Stefano Manzi’s future in the FIM Supersport World Championship is secure with the Italian renewing with Ten Kate Racing Yamaha for the 2024 season. The #62 was a race winner throughout 2023 and challenged Nicolo Bulega for the title before his rival ultimately prevailed, but Manzi was able to secure second in the standings. With his future in the bag, the Italian will be aiming to go one step further than he did this season and return to the World Championship back to Ten Kate Racing after they last won it with Dominique Aegerter in 2021 and 2022.

Manzi made his WorldSSP debut in 2021 at Jerez and was immediately in the top ten, before returning for a full campaign in 2022 with PTR Triumph. Five podiums came including one win at Portimao helped him to sixth in the Championship, ahead of a move to Ten Kate Racing Yamaha for 2023. In 24 races, he claimed 17 podiums and four wins as he pushed Bulega in the title race, but the #11 was able to wrap the title up in Portugal.

A key theme of his 2023 campaign was making a step from Race 1 on Saturday to Race 2 on Sunday, with his best results in each round often, but not always, coming in the second race. He took his first win of the season on home soil at Misano, before doing the double at Imola as WorldSSP returned to the iconic Italian venue. The final win of the year came in an epic showdown at Portimao against Bulega, with the race decided on the final lap.

Speaking about the renewal, which also means he becomes a Yamaha Motor Europe contracted rider, Manzi said: “I’m happy and proud to become an official Yamaha rider. It’s not something I take for granted, and it feels really good to extend the partnership. We will need to work very hard to achieve the results that we have set as our goals in 2024, as they are ambitious, but I’m confident that if we continue to work positively, as we did this year, we will hit our target. I want to thank Yamaha Motor Europe and Ten Kate Racing for their faith in me and the renewal of our partnership.”

Kervin Bos, Team Manager at Ten Kate Racing Yamaha added: "We are extremely proud to be able to compete in the World Supersport class with Stefano Manzi for another year. Going into a second year together makes it a lot easier for both of us: we now know each other well and the bike will no longer be new to Stefano. We know his potential is very high and we are looking forward to fight for the top positions with him next year. We would like to thank Yamaha Motor Europe for helping to make this deal possible. We are very proud of our partners and sponsors who help us make this happen."

Adding Yamaha’s thoughts to the renewal, Andrea Dosoli, Road Racing Manager at Yamaha Motor Europe explained: “It is a pleasure to extend the collaboration with Stefano; he is a fantastic guy. It's a path that we started at the beginning of 2023, and he immediately proved capable of exceptional results, as we saw this season. With an extension for another year, we aim to capitalise on the experience gained and repeat the attack at the top of the WorldSSP Championship. After what Stefano has shown this year, we are happy to offer him a direct contract with Yamaha Motor Europe as our leading light in WorldSSP under the experienced and professional Ten Kate Racing structure. From our side, he can rest assured that we will do everything to put him in a position to fight for the title in 2024. We thank him for the confidence he has placed in us.”

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