The FIM Supersport World Championship returned with a bang at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours as Stefano Manzi (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing) and Can Oncu (Yamaha BLU CRU Evan Bros Team) battled tooth and nail for victory. Both Race 1 and Race 2 of the French came down to last-lap passes as Manzi completed an unlikely double to extend his Championship lead and put one hand on the trophy.

A LAST LAP FOR THE AGES: Manzi pulls off an incredible comeback

Race 1 at Magny-Cours will go down in folklore thanks to an incredible last lap comeback by Manzi. After a huge moment coming out of Turn 13 on the penultimate lap, the #62 initially lost more than a second to Oncu; starting the final lap 0.951 seconds behind. However, he was undeterred and set about catching his rival and by Turn 5 on the final lap, was all over the back of the #61. At the same corner he made the initial mistake, Manzi went up the inside of his title rival to re-claim P1, holding on to take an unlikely victory.

Reacting to the win, Manzi said: “When I got to the front, I could go five or six tenths faster, but it was impossible to drop Can; he was always on my back with the slipstream. He overtook me at the end of the straight, so it was a race-long fight. With two laps to go, I had a big moment at the hairpin, and we almost crashed. I lost 1.1 seconds to him. I didn’t know how I could recover it, but I was able to overtake him and finish P1. I was pushing to have a gap before the last lap but when I released the brake, I lost the front. Luckily, I could save it, and when I saw that he dropped me a bit, I thought, ‘Maybe 20 points is okay, I have a big advantage in the Championship’. Then I said, ‘No, winning is better!’. I pushed with all I had on the last lap, and I won.”

For Oncu, it was disappointment not to come away with a win, but the #61 relished the fight with Manzi, which lasted practically the entire race: “I enjoyed the race a lot, it was very nice! We had a lot of fights with Manzi. After we touched, I thought something happened to my rear tyre because my bike started jumping. That’s why I tried to finish the race. My guys will check and understand what’s wrong. I’m very happy because I finished the race.”

DIFFERENT STORY, SAME ENDING: Manzi bridges three-second gap to win on the final lap

Race 2 had a familiar ending with a different build-up. Manzi got away well but was held up after debutant Alberto Surra (Yamaha BLU CRU Evan Bros Team) crashed at Turn 3, giving Oncu a three-second lead at the head of the field. After Manzi fought his way back into second, the gap between him and Oncu stabilised at around three seconds until Lap 12, when the gap was 2.8 seconds. A lap later and it was 2.3 seconds as Manzi took chunks out of Oncu’s lead before it dropped below two seconds for the first time on Lap 15. Just two laps later and the gap was 0.730s but Manzi was now in striking distance and, on the last lap at Turn 11, made his move to claim another stunning win.

Discussing his Race 2 comeback, Manzi said: “I’m feeling over the moon because this one, I think, was one of my best races in WorldSSP. The start was good, and I was near the front, but Surra crashed before the main straight. He and the bike were in the middle, so I had to brake, and I lost three seconds to Can. The group behind overtook me on the straight. At some point, I was thinking it was just a P2 for me. I never give up and I did that again today. In the end, I closed a big gap in the last few laps, and I was able to overtake him in the last sector. I was focused on winning! I wanted to achieve that, but it was also important to not do stupid things.”

Reacting to another P2, Oncu said: “We lost it in the last part of the race and because of this we finished second. We have to work to understand why we lost in the last part and try to improve. Let’s hope we have a big step for the next round at Aragon. Finishing P2 twice is good, at least we’re on the podium. P1 is always different. We never give up because anything can happen, it’s motorcycle racing. We’ll never give up and see what the coming races bring us.”

THE STATE OF PLAY: Manzi could be Champion at Aragon

Manzi’s French double means the Italian takes a 69-point lead into the next round at Aragon and he could wrap up the Championship in Spain. The #62 would need to outscore Oncu by 31 points across the weekend in order to win the title; this would leave him 100 clear and, in the event that he doesn’t score points in the final four races and Oncu scores 100, the title would be decided by number of P2s, which Manzi leads.

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