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Stefano Manzi (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing) has been on fire this FIM Supersport World Championship, with his Race 2 win at the Acerbis Italian Round, his podium streak has now extended to a WorldSSP record-breaking 17 podiums. While his 19-podium 2024 campaign was far from a campaign to forget, Manzi only finished runner-up behind Adrian Huertas because of their disparity in race wins. In fact, Manzi even had more podiums than the eventual champion, 19 compared to Huertas’s 18; however, Huertas’s killer instinct to top the podium proved decisive, winning 10 races to Manzi’s 5.

CONSISTENCY IS KEY: no result worse than P2 in 2025…

Manzi however seems to have begun 2025’s campaign with the same pace he ended 2024 on; he ended the 2024 season with a double at the Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto, and now he has his first of 2025 with his pair of race wins at Cremona. Most impressively however has been Manzi’s metronomic consistency, in a class full of talented riders, Manzi has proven that for him, the podium is the rule, and anything below that is an exception. This consistency punishes other title contenders for even the slightest mistakes; and even in cases when another rider gets the better of him, his podium consistency mitigates the point gain by other riders. In fact, in the eight races so far in 2025, Manzi’s worst result has been a P2 finish on five occasions.

“After Race 1 even if you win, you need to stay focused for Race 2, but now I can say that it was an amazing weekend.” – Manzi on his first double since 2024’s closing races

Manzi’s Cremona double was the first of the WorldSSP season, and the first home-round double since Manzi himself did it back in 2023 at the Italian Round at Imola Circuit. Manzi’s Jerez double was a poetic end to the Yamaha R6’s long WorldSSP career, more than 25 years of competition in the category, and now, the same rider has earned the maiden double for Yamaha’s new bike, the R9. The R6 brought Yamaha 10 Riders’ and Manufacturers’ Championships to the Japanese manufacturer, and Manzi is looking this year to bring Yamaha their first Championship atop the R9.

On how it feels to win the double in front of his home fans, Manzi said: “It feels amazing, it’s difficult with the schedule during the weekend to be happy after Race 1 even if you win because you need to stay focused for Race 2, but now I can say that it was an amazing weekend for me. A double win at home and the first WorldSSP double with the Yamaha R9; it was a very demanding race, but I was able to win again on the weekend, I’m very happy with the results.”

“I was thinking about the race win, this spot on the track was where I knew we could do something.” – Manzi on his late Race 2 overtake to claim his home double

Sunday afternoon’s Race 2 saw a great start off the line from Jaume Masia (Orelac Racing VerdNatura). the Spanish rookie jumped up from P3 to lead the race in the early running, leading from Lap 1 until Lap 18. While Masia led the pack, Manzi kept the rookie in striking distance, biding his time until he began to close the gap as the race wound into the final laps. On Lap 18, Manzi sliced inside of Masia in the final corner before the home straight, opening a gap for Tom Booth-Amos (PTR Triumph Factory Racing) to follow him through to finish P2 and Masia P3.

Manzi continued: “I was thinking about the race win, this spot on the track was where I knew we could do something. Our bike, like everyone else’s has strong points and weak points, to use our strong points I needed to attack like that and I’m happy it paid off. I hope I can continue my momentum forward, from the start of the season, we’ve had a good start and the progression through these first few rounds has been really good. I hope we can continue this way!”

Can Manzi continue his winning ways next time out at Most in the Motul Czech Round? Stream it live May 16^th-18^th WorldSBK VideoPass - now 30% off!