Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp‘s Manuel Gonzalez secured sixth place in today‘s Grand Prix of Japan Moto2 Race, his tenth top-10 result of the 2023 Moto2 season. Kohta Nozane was eager to impress his fans and family that had come to the Mobility Resort Motegi to cheer him on, but a luckless crash brought his home GP ride to a premature end.
Starting from P10, Gonzalez held his position in the busy first two right-handers before moving up to eighth. He lost a position to Sergio Garcia on the third lap but made sure to stay in close pursuit. While the Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp man kept pushing, he benefitted from the misfortunes of others: Alonso Lopez had to complete two long-lap penalties, while Sam Lowes and Garcia crashed out of the race. It put Manugass in sixth place. However, as the gaps between the riders widened in the final stages, the race became a matter of soldiering on. The Spaniard kept his focus all the way to the finish to take sixth place.
Nozane had hoped to make up ground in the opening laps of his home GP. He commenced from P22, but with 30 Moto2 riders scrapping while all bunched up in the early stages, the number-5 rider found himself in 26th by the second lap. Nozane was determined to put on a show for his fans and regrouped. He kept pushing and was up to 23rd place on lap 8 when disaster struck in Turn 10. An unlucky crash signalled the end of the Japanese rider‘s challenge.
Today‘s result means Gonzalez now has 104 points but does move down a place to 9th in the championship standings. Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp stays in 9th in the team championship, also with 104 points.
The Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp duo will be back in action in two weeks‘ time for the Grand Prix of Indonesia, held at the Pertamina Mandalika International Circuit, from 13th -15th October.
