Intact rider Manuel Gonzalez after finishing second: “This result was important!”

Following his victories in Austria and Japan, Pramac rider Izan Guevara closed the gap on Moto2 World Championship leader Manuel Gonzalez race by race. Gonzalez, for his part, suffered a disaster at Motegi – due to technical problems at the start of the race, he could only manage 22nd place in the end.

After what happened in Japan – has the pressure increased further, or was he able to put that out of his mind ahead of the race weekend in Indonesia? “I’ve made a complete fresh start. Of course, we lost a lot of points in Japan – at a track where we could have finished on the podium or even fought for the win,” Gonzalez reflected.

The Intact rider’s starting position in the Moto2 race at Mandalika was once again less than ideal. In qualifying, he managed only 10th on the grid with his Kalex. The race was interrupted due to a mass crash involving Daniel Holgado, David Alonso, Joe Roberts and Collin Veijer in the first corner. After the restart, Gonzalez set about making his way to the front of the field right from the start.

Lap after lap, Gonzalez closed the gap until he had finally worked his way up to third place. Following Alex Escrig’s retirement on the penultimate lap, Gonzalez moved up to second place – he crossed the finish line 3.5 seconds behind winner Guevara.

“I’m absolutely delighted, especially after a poor qualifying session. That makes this result all the more fantastic,” said Gonzalez, delighted with his second place. “Still, it wasn’t easy, as the set-up wasn’t quite right. But I was confident because I know the bike well and can just do my own thing. What’s more, the conditions were brutal because of the extremely high temperatures. It was incredibly difficult to ride, almost like riding on ice. Everyone struggled with that. Before the race, I spoke to the team, and we said we’d give it our best shot. If we finished in fifth or fourth place, we’d take that. In the end, we pushed a bit harder and finished in second place. Considering I started from 10th on the grid, that’s a fantastic result.”

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Manuel Gonzalez (Intact GP): “We’re not going to change a thing!”

Gonzalez put in a mentally strong performance – he stayed calm and made no mistakes during the race. “It was a race full of passion, in which I tried to overtake others lap after lap without making any mistakes,” confirmed the Spaniard. “Many thanks to the team and to everyone who supports me. Now I’m looking forward to Australia, where the track should suit our bike and our set-up a bit better.”

In the overall standings, Manuel Gonzalez holds a 5.5-point lead over Guevara with five races remaining this season. “Nothing has changed in our situation since the last few races. We’re still very fast, even if it’s true that our rivals are in better form,” the 24-year-old had to admit. “In the last few races, we simply didn’t have the necessary luck. That’s why it’s so important that we achieved this success (in Indonesia, ed.) to boost confidence in our pit once again. We won’t be changing anything and will carry on as usual next time out in Australia.” Last year, he finished the Australian Grand Prix in 7th place.