After his first check along with his fellow 2026 WorldSBK riders, reigning Supersport World Champion Stefano Manzi has recognized the place his greatest challenges in adapting to the head class of manufacturing racing will come from.
Manzi completed third on his solely check day on the post-race World Superbike check in Jerez, finishing 95 laps.
Though he initially appeared to be adapting properly to the Yamaha R1 he’ll race subsequent yr, Manzi, who shall be competing full-time in WorldSSP from 2022, feels the largest adjustment shall be within the racing circumstances, and managing the additional pace and turbulence of a superbike in shut proximity to different riders, somewhat than the using itself.
“I all the time trip alone in testing, so I might wish to see what it will be wish to run in a gaggle. There’s extra energy, extra pace on the straights, extra slipstream once you brake, so it will be tougher to do something in a gaggle,” Manzi instructed WorldSBK.com at EICMA.
“However for the present check, you’ll be able to solely trip by your self, so I might wish to see after I can do it.”
Manzi has examined the WorldSBK-spec R1 twice, first in the summertime to evaluate its potential for promotion to Superbike in 2026, after which within the aforementioned post-race check at Jerez in October.
The Italian is pleased with the outcomes of the Jerez check regardless of the difficult circumstances, however is wanting ahead to working additional on the bike’s set-up on the check scheduled for the tip of November.
“It was check,” Manzi stated.
“In the long run, the climate did not cooperate with us within the morning. It was raining a bit in Jerez, however in the long run we managed to finish 95 laps through the day, so I felt fairly assured within the bike. I can not look forward to the following check.”
“We didn’t change the bike an excessive amount of as a result of we had been simply centered on getting laps in testing.”
“However on the finish of the day, the lap time on the finish of the day wasn’t dangerous, however it wasn’t the aim.
“I believe subsequent time I’ll begin working with the group on the settings and begin modifying the bike a bit extra to swimsuit my model, so we’ll see.”
