Bitter debut for Stefano Manzi in Superbike: talent alone isn't enough

Monday, 23 February 2026 at 20:00

Nicolò Bulega and Stefano Manzi: similar pasts and present-day opposites in the world standings. Both were born in 1999, grew up in Romagna, and have a past with the VR46 Academy. After closing their chapter in Grand Prix racing, they moved to Supersport and were crowned World Champions. Following their titles, they stepped up to Superbike—Bulega with the Aruba Ducati team and Manzi with the GRT Yamaha team.

Thus, while Bulega made his WorldSBK debut with a win and two fifth places, later finishing the 2024 season in second overall, Manzi returned home from his first World Superbike round with a meager two points, the result of a 14th place in Race 2. The Yamaha R1 increasingly looks like a fallen noble. Not even a superstar like Jonathan Rea managed to shine on that bike last year.

In Supersport in 2023 and 2024, Stefano Manzi racked up wins and podiums even with a Yamaha R6 that was practically museum-worthy, and there was hope that his talent could once again compensate, at least in part, for the bike’s limits—but Superbike is different. Here, only an extraterrestrial of the class like Toprak Razgatlioglu has managed to prevail without having the best bike at his disposal; everyone else has not.

Stefano Manzi’s World Championship campaign thus looks like an uphill battle. His post–Phillip Island comments were tinged with melancholy.

"On Saturday the feeling with the qualifying tire wasn’t great and putting together a fast lap proved complicated, so we started from 18th on the grid. We tried to make some changes for the race, but unfortunately they didn’t deliver the expected results and, due to some unlucky circumstances, I was forced to retire. Sunday was particularly crazy because of the weather, which had been uncertain since the morning. Luckily we managed to complete a few laps in the dry during warm-up and run a dry Superpole Race. The feeling was much better than on Saturday and I had fun battling on track. Unfortunately, Race 2 was much more complicated. After the Jerez test I was confident for a wet race, but the feeling wasn’t good and I couldn’t ride the way I wanted. We’ll keep working to improve and I hope I can take a step forward."