Saturday morning’s Superpole session saw Manzi searching for a strong lap on a track he finds difficult, despite the uphill battle plus a red-flag interruption and some cancelled laps he managed to bag an important second row start. Meanwhile his team-mate Jorge Navarro (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) qualified in eighth and Glenn van Straalen (EAB Racing Team) achieved ninth.
The first WorldSSP race of the weekend wasn’t as clear cut as many expected, and despite Manzi being initially unable to bridge the gap to the front, he pushed hard to up the pace in the lead group and moved from third into second by Lap 11. At this point the leader was too far in front for the Italian to catch, but he defended his position well for a few laps. After slipping to third in the closing stages of the race he once again gave it everything to up his position, but a huge run-off and impressive save on the final lap plummeted him from third to 11th.
Meanwhile, Navarro enjoyed a consistent race on home soil, taking seventh at the chequered flag. Van Straalen and Valentin Debise (GMT94 Yamaha) were both inside the Top 10 with eighth and 10th respectively.
