Gonzalez to Gun for Top Results in Catalan GP from P4 on the Grid

02-09-2023

Gonzalez to Gun for Top Results in Catalan GP from P4 on the Grid

Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp‘s Manuel Gonzalez and Kohta Nozane found good improvements on the Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya Saturday. The teammates pushed to take 4th and 29th place on the grid respectively for tomorrow‘s race.

Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp‘s Manuel Gonzalez was challenging for the front row in today‘s Moto2 Q2 session. He ultimately missed out by just a whisker and will start tomorrow‘s Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya Moto2 Race from P4. Kohta Nozane got more to grips with his Moto2 bike at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on the Saturday. He took part in the Moto2 Q1 session this afternoon and took 29th place on the grid.

Gonzalez was quickly up to speed in Q2. A 1‘44.400s on lap 3 moved him briefly up to third before he settled into fourth place. The Spaniard quickly headed into pit lane with seven and a half minutes remaining. Two minutes later, he resumed realizing his time attack ambitions. The lap times were dropping. The number-18 rider responded by bettering his result two more times – both efforts keeping him in fourth place. His 1‘44.215s, set on lap 7/8, ultimately saw him missing out on the front row by just 0.001s.

Nozane‘s objective for the Saturday morning was to adapt his bike‘s settings and his riding style to make another step. In the afternoon, he took part in the 15-minute Q1 session. He put his head down and gradually improved his time to a 1‘45.983s, set on lap 7/7. It had him take 15th place in the Q1 rankings and puts him in 29th place on the grid for tomorrow‘s Catalan GP.

Manuel Gonzalez

Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp

"Today we did our best Saturday of the year. In P3 I worked on the setting, but we didn‘t find anything special. I was still feeling very confident for Q2 because I‘m very fast with new tyres. On my second run, I was on route for pole, but in the last sector I almost high-sided going out of Turn 12. I lost a lot of time, but I still finished P4. I know that we will enjoy the race a lot!"

Kohta Nozane

Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp

"Today the track conditions were better than yesterday, and also my riding style and the set-up of the bike improved. Anyway, I was looking for something more, but I couldn‘t achieve it. I think that tomorrow‘s conditions will be more similar to what we experienced during yesterday‘s P2. If so, it will be a long race, but for sure I‘ll keep pushing."

Gelete Nieto

Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp, Sports Director

"Today we were very close to taking pole position. It‘s a pity that in Turn 12 Manu lost a few tenths due to skidding. And in the end, we were just 0.001s off a place on the front row. I think that today Manu has shown his potential.

"Kohta continues to improve his times, and little by little he is adapting to riding a Moto2 bike. Tomorrow it will be very important for him to race within a rider group; this will help him a lot to continue improving."