Spain’s Gonzalo Sanchez achieved another dominant victory in the second race of the FIM Yamaha R3 bLU cRU World Cup at the Circuit of Barcelona-Catalunya, completing a perfect home race weekend and a promising start to the season.

Uncertain conditions in the morning added an extra element to the 10-lap race, but it was declared dry and slick tyres were used by the entire field.

However, this meant a slightly cautious start to the race was necessary, but Sanchez still made sure to get his R3 in front into the first corner. From there the 15-year-old rookie from Teruel settled into a strong rhythm and took control of the race, building his advantage to win by more than eight seconds. An impressive start the World Cup season for the 2023 R3 SuperFinale winner, taking the maximum 50 points available across the weekend.

As in Race 1, there was plenty of excitement among the remaining riders with much of the field in podium contention. Despite their best efforts, they had no answer for Sanchez’s speed, but Marc Vich was able to make an initial break from the pack to begin chasing Sanchez, and the Saturday podium-sitter looked strong enough to repeat the performance, but later in the race the rider from Mallorca struggled with tyre management and lost ground. Dawid Nowak, penalised in Race 1, was determined to achieve his first R3 bLU cRU podium, and the young Pole managed this feat perfectly. Joining Sanchez and Nowak on the podium was Czech rookie Nicolas Zanin.

A multi-rider incident two laps from the end brought out the red flag and called a permanent halt to the race with more than two-thirds distance having been completed. Six riders went down, including Vich who was caught out by debris on the track. All riders were uninjured.

Round 2 of the FIM Yamaha R3 bLU cRU World Cup will take place at TT-Circuit Assen from April 19^th-21st

FULL RESULTS - R3 bLU cRU World Cup – RACE TWO

Gonzalo Sanchez, Race 2 winner, said: “It has been a perfect weekend here in Catalunya – my family, my team and Yamaha gave everything to support me and this was the result - a double win. It feels good to start the championship so well and I’ve put in a lot of effort which has paid off. Assen will be a new track for me but I will learn a lot and of course I hope to fight for more wins.”