Stefano Manzi to Replace Keminth Kubo at the Spanish GP

2022-04-30 13:36
With Keminth Kubo unable to continue the Gran Premio Red Bull de España, Stefano Manzi will step up as temporary rider for the Yamaha VR46 Master Camp Team.

The Yamaha VR46 Master Camp Team sincerely thank the VR46 Riders Academy for their support, making this quick rider change possible. Manzi‘s experience in the intermediate class will come to good use for the team, who made their debut earlier this year.



GELETE NIETO
GELETE NIETO
SPORTS DIRECTOR







We needed a replacement rider for Kubo, so thanks to the Academy we found Stefano Manzi. He is welcome in our team, and we will work a lot with him today and tomorrow to make him feel as comfortable as possible. It will be interesting to watch his return to the Moto2. He is experienced in this class, so it will be interesting to work with him.




STEFANO MANZI
STEFANO MANZI
YAMAHA VR46 MASTER CAMP TEAM RIDER







First, I‘d like to thank Yamaha and VR46 Riders Academy for this opportunity. It won‘t be easy, because I missed the Friday sessions, but I‘ll take it as a good occasion to ride and make kilometres on a Moto2 bike, because now I‘m riding in another category. I‘ll enjoy it a lot even if it‘s a short weekend. I‘ll do my best, and I‘ll work a lot with the team.






NOTES



ABOUT STEFANO MANZI

Nationality: Italian
Birthday: 29/03/1999

Stefano Manzi started his racing career in 2007, the Italian achieving fifth place in the Italian Minimoto Championship Junior A contest, then in 2009 he took the HIRP Championship riding a Honda 50cc – followed by winning the 2010 Italian MiniGP Championship on a Metrakit 50 with seven race victories. In 2011 Manzi won the 70cc category in the same championship.

In 2012 he finished thirteenth in the Red Bull Rookies Cup overall, then third the following year and in 2014. For 2015 he joined the Moto3 team ’San Carlo Team Italia‘, riding a Mahindra alongside Matteo Ferrari. He earned 10 points throughout the year and stayed with the team again in 2016, with some notable performances including battling in the front group at Silverstone, alongside racing in the FIM CEV Repsol Junior Moto3 World Championship.

Manzi, who is over six feet tall, moved up to Moto2 with the new Sky Racing Team VR46 intermediate class project for 2017. After a tough start, he found some traction towards the end of the season and moved to Forward Racing Team aboard a Suter for 2018 to continue his progress. After a difficult season for Manzi which saw him miss the final three rounds of the season, he remained with Forward Racing for 2019 as he and the team got to grips with an MV Agusta chassis while the Italian factory made their Grand Prix racing return. Manzi finished the campaign with the best result of his career, taking fourth in Valencia. However, 2020 was, again, a difficult year for him, where his best result was a ninth position in the Andalusian GP. In 2021, he made the move to Pons HP 40. He concluded the season with three top-10 places.

In 2022, Manzi changed to the Dynavolt Triumph Team to take part in the FIM WorldSSP World Championship. As a consistent threat in the top 10, he has scored 27 points over the first two rounds (four races) and is currently holding eighth place in the overall standings.

His experience in the Moto2 World Championship will be helpful to the Yamaha VR46 Master Camp Team, who made their debut in the intermediate class this year.

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