Spain’s Gonzalo Sanchez took his fourth FIM Yamaha R3 bLU cRU World Cup victory of the season on Saturday, pulling a gap on the chasing pack to win by almost three seconds ahead of Marc Vich and Christian Pucci. 

The field of 23 riders took to the San Marinese circuit during the hottest part of the day when air temperatures were at 31 degrees Celsius and track temperatures at 45 degrees. Japan’s Shoma Yamane made the initial launch from pole position, but he was quickly joined by Italian wildcard Gianmaria Ibidi and Sanchez. Before the end of the first lap, the 15-year-old Spaniard had made his move to the front, a position he held until the end of the 10-lap race. As Sanchez pulled away, a big group of riders fought it out for the remaining podium places.

Brazil’s Eduardo Burr had been in the fight but a double-long lap penalty due to a jump start pushed him down the order to 22nd, this initially left the fight to Marc Vich and Mario Salles, but the home riders were quick to climb through the order. Wildcard Pucci showed his strength throughout the race and went on to claim an impressive third place. Vich held on to an important second, which keeps him close to Sanchez in the championship standings. Alessandro di Persio pushed hard to set the fastest lap of the race, but narrowly missed out on the podium in fourth, Salles completed the Top 5.

Race 2 will start at 16:15 CET on Sunday 16th June and you can watch it live on the Yamaha Racing YouTube channel.

Gonzalo Sanchez: “Today I won, even though yesterday I didn’t feel very good with the bike. My team and I worked really hard together with the Yamaha staff, and I spent a long time studying the data to find where I could improve, all of this paid off and I took another victory – four out of five sounds great! I am keeping my feet on the ground and not taking anything for granted because I know tomorrow will be another big fight. A big thanks to my family and to Yamaha, and also to the fans at the circuit – I’m so grateful to them all!”