Tricky Saturday for Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp in Silverstone

05-08-2023

Tricky Saturday for Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp in Silverstone

Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp‘s Manuel Gonzalez and Kohta Nozane made their last flying laps count in qualifying, setting their best times right at the end of the Q2 and Q1 session. They will start tomorrow‘s Monster Energy British Grand Prix from 17th and 27th place on the grid respectively.

Grey skies and a wet Silverstone Circuit set the scene for the Moto2 Monster Energy British Grand Prix qualifying sessions. Manuel Gonzalez and Kohta Nozane proceeded with care during the Q2 and Q1 session and took 17th and 27th place on the grid respectively for tomorrow‘s race.

Both Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp riders suffered a crash in this morning‘s P3, but they were okay. Because no time improvements were made in the morning compared to yesterday, Gonzalez promoted to Q2 while Nozane had to take part in Q1.

The track conditions remained treacherous in Q2. The slowly drying track made it tricky for Gonzalez to determine how hard he could push. With this morning‘s crash still fresh in his memory, he decided to gradually build speed during the time attack. Saving the best for last, he clocked a 2‘20.048s on lap 7/7, but it didn‘t improve his ranking. He will start tomorrow‘s race from P17.

Nozane, being new to the Silverstone track, had his work cut out for him on the Saturday. He used the wet experience he had gained in P3 to further up his pace in the 15-minute Q1 shoot-out. Riding with caution but determination, he set a best time of 2‘22.068s on lap 7/7 that put him in 13th place in the Q1 results. It earned him 27th place on the grid for tomorrow‘s Monster Energy British Grand Prix

Manuel Gonzalez

Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp

"t wasn‘t the Saturday we wanted. I had a crash on the second lap of P3, and I lost a lot of time on track. My feelings weren‘t good, so before Q2 we changed the setting. Actually, I felt much better in quali, but I needed more time to get used to the feeling with the bike. We start from further back than we wanted, but tomorrow it will be dry, and I know I‘m fast in those conditions."

Kohta Nozane

Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp

"The track conditions today were completely different from yesterday. The track conditions were also different between P3 and the qualifying, so it‘s been difficult to adapt my riding style to the different settings every session. Of course, the qualifying position is not good, but my feelings for tomorrow are not bad. I‘m disappointed in myself because I made a mistake in Turn 18 during the last lap, and that cost me some positions."

Gelete Nieto

Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp, Sports Director

"In the rain, we are not yet at the level we should be. This morning Manu had a crash at the beginning of P3, and that made us lose some very valuable laps. The positive thing is that in Q2 Manu felt an improvement in his set-up. He will be on the 6th row tomorrow, and he needs a great start.

Kohta continues to adapt and improve. It‘s been difficult for him because he needs to adapt himself to the bike, and in four sessions we had three different track conditions. Today in the wet, his sensations were not entirely bad. Where he had the most difficulty was at the entrance of the final corner to the finish line. There the bike felt a little high in front. The most important thing right now for Kohta is to make kilometres."