Stefano Manzi extended his lead in the 2025 FIM Supersport World Championship standings with another second place finish at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve today.
The Pata Yamaha Ten Kate rider has finished no lower than second in all four races so far in 2025 with this consistency rewarding him with a 15-point lead in the early stages of the new R9’s first season on track.
It was Race 1 victor and polesitter Can Öncü (Yamaha BLU CRU Evan Bros Racing) who led again into turn one with the 21-year-old looking set to repeat his lights-to-flag victory from Saturday, only to crash out of the lead on lap nine bringing a pre-mature end to his would-have-been-perfect weekend.
While unable to match Öncü in on the opening lap, Manzi had a strong start to sit second ahead of GMT94 Yamaha’s Lucas Mahias and inherited the lead after Öncü’s mistake. However, a hard charging Bo Bensneyder was able to pass both R9 riders to take the lead. Manzi pushed hard to challenge his rival in the closing stages but eventually crossed the line in second place. A result which extended his championship lead and marked his 13th consecutive WorldSSP podium finish.
Mahias narrowly missed out on a podium finish in fourth to conclude a strong points haul this weekend. 2024 WorldSSP300 champion Aldi Satya Mahendra took the final point in 15th as he continues to make progress having stepped up to WorldSSP this year with the Yamaha BLU CRU Evan Bros Racing team.
Michael Ruben Rinaldi (GMT94 Yamaha) made some progress to conclude a challenging weekend in 17th, while series rookie Yuki Okamoto (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate) improved to 21st as he looked to learn the Portimão circuit.
The championship resumes in two weeks’ time at the TT Circuit Assen, home of the Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing team.
Stefano Manzi (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate) – Race 2: 2nd Championship: 1st
“I am happy, as we were able to improve on yesterday and in the beginning Can [Öncü] was not able to pull as much of a gap like yesterday and we were able to keep pushing him as we were more comfortable – the team did a great job last night. At first I tried to go alone, but Bo caught me and I tried to stay with him but he was a little faster so rather than take risks I decided to opt for ‘safe mode’ and take second place as we need to be consistent – we have not finished lower than second so far this year so this is working! I am looking forward to Assen, it is the team’s home race so it is always a special round – hopefully we can continue our strong start to the year with the R9.”
