The morning’s Superpole session was approached with a certain amount of caution as a few damp patches were still to be found on the southern Spanish track. Yamaha’s riders struggled a little to find one-lap pace, with Manzi (Ten Kate Racing) finishing the highest in fourth on the grid.
However, when it was time to race, the blue riders showed their ability around the 4.4km track. Manzi was first to carve through the field, despite struggling with the track surface, and before long he had made his way into podium contention. From then on he had his sights set on the front, but the leader had already pulled a sizeable gap. However, Manzi engaged in a battle with Federico Caricasulo for second place, a position that he doggedly held onto over the finish line. Meanwhile Manzi’s team-mate, Jorge Navarro was enjoying a good home race as he worked his way up, getting the better of a close contest for fourth. Debise (GMT94 Yamaha) was once again looking smooth and fast on his R6, running as high as fourth in the early stages of the race. Although the Frenchman began to close the gap to those in front towards the end of the 17-lap fight, he had to settle for a great fifth.
Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team) also demonstrated fine form as he made a remarkable comeback through the field. Starting in a lowly 17th place, he pushed through to eighth.
With both of their riders finishing in the top four today, Ten Kate Racing were able to confirm that they have won the 2023 WorldSSP Teams’ Championship.
