VAN STRAALEN AND MANZI BOTH ON THE PODIUM DURING DOUBLE RACE DAY AT MAGNY-COURS

Glenn van Straalen and Stefano Manzi both finished on the podium in the World Supersport class at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours on Sunday. The Dutchman crossed the line in third place in Race 1 which was run in the morning while Manzi crashed in that race. In the afternoon, the Italian was second with Van Straalen behind him in sixth place.

After the first World Supersport race was cancelled on Saturday afternoon due to heavy rain, it was scheduled on Sunday morning instead of the warm up session. The race was run over a reduced distance of 12 laps where, despite bright sunshine, the track had still not completely dried up. Nevertheless, Glenn van Straalen and Stefano Manzi both took to the track with slicks.

This worked out very well for the Dutchman, who was able to fight at the front for victory. He eventually crossed the finish line in third place, giving him his second podium finish of the season. Unfortunately for Manzi, the race would come to an end on the third lap due to a crash.

In the afternoon, the race was run over the full distance of nineteen laps and now the track was almost completely dry. Starting eleventh on the grid, Manzi had to work hard to get to the front but by the fourth lap he had already arrived in the top three. The Italian was in a fierce battle for victory before eventually crossing the finish line in second place by just 0.171 seconds. It is already his eleventh podium finish in 16 races.

Starting from fourth on the grid, Van Straalen was also able to show himself at the front in the early stages of the race but in the end, he just couldn’t keep up with the pace of the leading group. With a creditable sixth place, the Dutchman ended a challenging weekend very positively.

Stefano Manzi – DNF & P2: 

“The crash in the morning was a big shame. I was leading the group of riders who were on slicks and I was riding a normal pace, not doing anything crazy. I had another rider in front of me on rain tyres who made me miss a wet patch, as a result I crashed. That was very disappointing. It also meant that I had to start from P11 in Race 2 but in the end I came closest to the win since Barcelona. We are on the podium in more or less every race but we cannot really fight for the victory, today we did so I’m happy about that. I hope we can continue like this.”

Glenn van Straalen – P3 & P6: 

“This morning it was a tough race but fortunately we had made the right choice with slicks. The race came to us because of that so it was a matter of staying calm. We got a nice third place and I’m very happy with that. For Race 2, we had a good position on the grid and we started strongly, unfortunately we just missed
the pace a bit to compete at the front again. In the end, I’m happy with sixth place and we can look back on a great Sunday. I’m already looking forward to the next race weekend in Cremona.”

Kervin Bos – Ten Kate Racing Team Manager: 

“We had an excellent weekend with Glenn on the podium in Race 1 and a very strong performance in Race 2. Stefano unfortunately made a small mistake in Race 1 causing him to crash, he wanted a little too much too early in the race. In Race 2, Stefano came back very strongly and showed why he is a title contender.
With his knife between his teeth, he fought until the last few metres and was able to take the fight to the Ducati’s. Overall, we did very well with these results on a day with two races. Stefano could have done a little better in Race 1 but Glenn once again had his best weekend of the season. He has shown a lot of progression from Donington Park onwards. The team did a very good job and as a result we also scored well for the team championship. Before the weekend, we said the momentum is going our way and it looks like it is. We need to keep this going at this important stage of the season, I think the whole team is looking forward to being back on the grid in two weeks’ time.”