MANZI BRINGS PATA YAMAHA TEN KATE RACING SENSATIONAL FIRST WIN OF 2024

Stefano Manzi has won the second World Supersport race at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Sunday afternoon. After the race was restarted due to a red flag, the Italian was flawless and took the first win of 2024 for Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing. Glenn van Straalen managed to finish the second race weekend of the year well with 10th place after having to come from 21st on the grid.

After finishing second in Race 1 on Saturday afternoon, Stefano Manzi and Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing were hungry for a first win on Sunday. Due to a still partly wet track, it was decided not to ride in the warm-up leaving only Race 2 on the programme. The Italian started well but knew his moment would come later in the race due to the choice of a harder rear tyre.

It would not come that far as, due to an incident, the red flag was waved and the race would be restarted over six laps. With soft tyres, Manzi was untouchable and struck at the right time on the last lap. He gave his rivals no chance to mount another attack after which he crossed the line in first place. It is his fifth win for Ten Kate Racing and with it he has moved up to third in the championship, eleven points behind the leader.

Glenn van Straalen had the same strategy for the race and had already moved up to 17th position in the first part of the race, coming from P21 on the grid. In the remaining six laps, the Dutchman made a very good start and made up many positions. In the end, the 23-year-old rider crossed the finish line in tenth place, scoring points again for Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing.

Stefano Manzi – P1: 

“I feel fantastic. After working all winter to go as fast as possible on  track, it’s great to have a weekend like this where you can finish on the podium twice and win a race. It was a strange Sunday because we weren’t able to ride in warm up this morning. I already woke up at 6:30 and we raced at 15:15 so I had towait quite long. In the first part of the race, before the red flag, I was managing my tyres because yesterday I had quite a big drop with the rear tyre. Then when the red flag was shown I already thought it would be a very short race, fortunately my team had a great strategy in place and I could use a new soft rear tyre for the restart. It was like qualifying for 6 laps and I gave everything I had. Everyone was more aggressive which made it very difficult but finally we were able to win the race. It was a great weekend and we showed what we are capable of, I’m very happy and proud and look forward to go to Assen next.”

Glenn van Straalen – P10:

“It was a very good race, I think the red flag was in our favour. It  allowed me to make up more places and be in a position where we belong. After the red flag I made a good start and managed to move further forward on the first lap. I am happy that we are going in the right direction now and of course I am looking forward to riding in Assen in a few weeks’ time. Congratulations to Stefano and the team, they did a fantastic job.”

Kervin Bos – Ten Kate Racing Team Manager: 

: “This was a very good Sunday for the Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing team with the first win of the year for Stefano Manzi and Glenn van Straalen finishing tenth from P21 on the grid. With Stefano we had a strategy with the hard rear tyre and we were just at the breaking point that the race would come to us a bit more. It didn’t get that far because of the red flag, the result was a sprint over six laps which meant we sent both riders onto the track with the soft rear tyre. Stefano was ruthless and eventually crossed the line first. A fantastic result and I am extremely proud of the team.

We already saw on Friday that Glenn’s speed is improving every day and he keeps growing, we were just unlucky that it just didn’t go in the right way during qualifying. He kept his cool, withstood the pressure and recovered step by step according to plan. He did very well and I am very happy and proud of that. It was nice to see so many partners of the team present and now we are going to Assen next. We are going to organise wonderful things there and before that we also have two test days so we are looking forward to that with confidence.”

The next round of the World Supersport championship takes place on the weekend of 19-21 April at the TT Circuit Assen, Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing’s home race.