Honda SBK? No thanks, better Moto2": the Gonzalez paradox, a talent ignored by MotoGP

Manuel Gonzalez wins and convinces, but MotoGP isn’t calling: it’s a case that raises many doubts.

The current Moto2 World Championship leader is being “snubbed” by MotoGP and has only a few inquiries for 2027 from Superbike. Manuel Gonzalez is the standout case of the current World Championship and it’s particularly baffling. Just look at his résumé: he stood out from a young age, then became the 2019 Supersport 300 World Champion, and finally moved to the “other paddock” for a challenge that was anything but guaranteed (often a flop), which in his case is proving successful. In short, he has amply demonstrated that he’s a talented rider—everyone speaks highly of him. Yet, with the sole exception of a brief test last year with Trackhouse’s Aprilia, it still doesn’t seem enough for a full-time seat in the premier class...

As reported by Marca, a MotoGP move for 2027 is “almost impossible.” Other Moto2 colleagues will make it there, but not him, despite his efforts and a victory over Vietti on Sunday that was a clear statement—and also a sign of anger and frustration with his current situation. Gonzalez is convinced there’s still some room in MotoGP, telling the Spanish daily plainly that “I hope I convinced them, I don’t know what I’m still missing.” Even though, unfortunately, hopes seem minimal, if not virtually gone... Manuel Gonzalez, however, has a clear stance: he prefers to keep racing in Moto2 over Honda’s Superbike offer, a project that just isn’t taking off.

“I’m not going there, that’s clear,” he emphasized. “Wherever I go, I want at least a bike that gives me some chance of winning, and right now they’re very far from that.” Better, then, to stay where he is now. “I have a winning bike—why should I go somewhere I can’t win?” The inexplicable paradox of a snubbed talent remains: the youngest ever SSP300 world champion, already in the Moto2 history books, and he could become the first rider from production-derived classes to win a crown in the Grand Prix World Championship. And it’s not a nationality issue, since Izan Guevara and Dani Holgado (reportedly close to a MotoGP jump) are Spaniards like him.

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