It is the rider number #18 the last piece of the puzzle for Team QJMOTOR GRESINI MOTO2, who for 2024 decided to gamble on a completely new and 100% Spanish speaking line up. The new arrival is none other than Manuel Gonzalez, a talented rider with a history in the WorldSSP class (and had won the WorldSSP300 back in 2019) and that in less than two seasons was able to show great speed also in Moto2 – as he finished very close to the podium positions on several occasions already. 

Gonzalez now hopes to make another step forward aboard the light-blue-liveried Kalex machine ran by Gresini Racing, in order to compete for top positions in the intermediate class. With Gonzalez and Arenas as standard bearers, Team QJMOTOR GRESINI Moto2 aims at returning to the status of reference team in the category in 2024. 

Here is the rider’s reaction on the move to Gresini Team in the intermediate class: ‘I can’t wait for the next season to begin! After two years with the same team, it will be a big change for me, a new experience. We will try to find a good feeling as soon as possible: it will be crucial to be competitive from the first round, that is my main goal. I will give my all and bring home the best possible result’.

Nadia Padovani Gresini and Luca Gresini:

– For the 2024 season we wanted a strong line-up, to bring the QJMOTOR GRESINI Moto2 back towards the top: this is why we decided to pair an experienced rider like Arenas, with a young athlete who is eager  to grow, and that’s exactly what we chose Manuel Gonzalez, another Spaniard, which was born in 2002. He has already shown his potential in Moto2 and we are sure that in Gresini he will find the right environment to best exploit it.

O conteúdo Manuel Gonzalez joins Gresini in Moto2 aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Manuel González was the fastest in the first practice of the Moto2 Indonesian Grand Prix, setting a new category lap record in Mandalika. The session was interrupted for several minutes with a red flag.

After the first flying laps, González (Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp/Kalex) was already in the lead. After Alberto Surra (Forward Team) and Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo/Kalex) also took the lead, the Spaniard returned to the front, only to be overtaken shortly after by Arón Canet (Pons Wegow Los40/Kalex).

A crash at turn 14 took Acosta out of contention early on. The rider emerged unharmed, but the bike suffered extensive damage.

On the track, lap times continued to drop, and after about a quarter of an hour, Fermín Aldeguer (Beta Tools SpeedUp/Boscoscuro) took the lead for the second time.

The Spaniard held the position for about 15 minutes, during which the session was interrupted with a red flag. Technical issues at the circuit were the reason for the stoppage.

After the restart, there were more changes in leadership: González, Aldeguer, and Canet took turns at the top before González set a new lap record in 1m34.871s on his final attempt. Canet finished second, 0.360s behind, while Jake Dixon (Inde GasGas Aspar/Kalex) finished third. Sam Lowes (Elf Marc VDS/Kalex) and Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia/Kalex) rounded out the top five. Acosta finished 30th and last with his single flying lap.

Timesheet:

O conteúdo Manuel González sets a new record in the first Moto2 practice in Indonesia, interrupted by a red flag aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Celestino Vietti will start from the pole position on this sunday’s Moto2 race after being the fastest at Misano’s qualifying on the intermediate category.

With a time of 1:36.201s the Fantic Racing rider got the best out Pedro Acosta who was 0.080s slower than the italian. Manuel Gonzalez was the third fastest and will start from the front row was well after being 0.140s off the #13.

This is another strong performance of the italian who is showing signs of growth after a long period in which he didn’t got to ride at his best potential.

Top ten of the times of Q2:

O conteúdo Celestino Vietti took pole position in Moto2 aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.