WSBK Supersport: Ten Kate Racing signs Stefano Manzi for the 2023 season

The Ten Kate Yamaha WorldSSP Supported Team is pleased to announce that Stefano manzi will join her in 2023. The Italian driver will become the teammate of Jorge Navarro, already recently hired, within the FIM Supersport World Championship team based in Nieuwleusen.

The Italian will ride a Ten Kate Racing-prepared Yamaha YZF-R6 in his quest for success in the FIM Supersport World Championship.

Stefano manzi, born March 29, 1999 in Rimini, made his international debut in 2012 as a rider in the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup. After three seasons, in which he twice finished third in the final standings, he made his debut in the lightest category of the MotoGP World Championship in 2015. In 2017 he moved to the Moto2 category, a category in which he was active for five seasons. In 2022, the protégé of the VR46 Riders Academy advanced to the WorldSSP Championship.

With three podiums, including a victory at the beginning of October in Portimão, Stefano manzi finished his first season in this category with 209 points scored in the world championship and a sixth place in the final championship standings. Reasons enough for the Nieuwleusen-based team to offer the 23-year-old Italian a contract for the 2023 season.

Manzi and Navarro will be in action for the first time on Ten Kate Racing's Yamaha YZF-R6 during a spring test scheduled for Portugal in January.

Stefano Manzi: « It’s one of the best Christmas gifts a driver could wish for: It’s fantastic to sign a contract with Ten Kate Racing. I have a lot of confidence in this project from Ten Kate Racing and Yamaha. After a first year in the World Supersport Championship, I think this is the perfect combination to show my potential. I can't wait to get on the track and work with this team. »

Kervin Bos, Team Manager: “ At the end of this year we can look back on a great season with both the driver's title and the team championship: a period we are incredibly proud of. We now look ahead to 2023 and, where we previously introduced Jorge Navarro, we are proud to announce that Stefano Manzi will be his teammate at Ten Kate Racing in the Supersport World Championship. The young Italian rider from the VR46 Riders Academy has a lot of experience in Grand Prix and has already completed a year in the WorldSSP championship, not without success. We are very proud of this driver line-up for 2023. Ten Kate Racing welcomes Stefano and wishes him the best of luck. We look forward to seeing both drivers in action together for the first time at the end of January during the pre-season test at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimão. »

 

Provisional composition of the WSSP 2023:

GMT94: Valentin Debise
Yamaha: Alvaro Diaz
Aruba.it Ducati: Nicolò Bulega
Kawasaki Puccetti: Can Öncü
MV Agusta: Bahattin Sofuoğlu –
Triumph: Niki Tuuli - Harry Truelove
Ten Kate Yamaha: Jorge Navarro – Stefano Manzi
Honda MIE: Tarran Mackenzie - Adam Norrodin
Evan bros: Andrea Mantovani
ProDina Kawasaki: Yuta Okaya
Yamaha VTF: Maiki Abe – Nicholas Spinelli
D34G: Oliver Bayliss – Maximilian Kofler