Two-time Moto2 Champion, Johann Zarco, believes Manuel Gonzalez will benefit from remaining in Moto2 for the 2026 season.

Despite leading the Moto2 World Championship, Manuel Gonzalez will remain in the intermediate class for the 2026 season, after failing to secure a MotoGP ride for next year.

Gonzalez had been linked with a move to the Prima Pramac Racing Yamaha squad, but in the end, the Spaniard was overlooked in favour of Toprak Razgatlioglu and Jack Miller.

The Spaniard could become the first Moto2 World Champion to remain in the class for a second season, since Johann Zarco in 2016. However, the Frenchman sees this as a positive rather than a negative.

Zarco, who is now a two-time MotoGP race winner, won the Moto2 title in the 2015 and 2016 seasons before moving into MotoGP with Tech3 Yamaha in 2017.

The 35-year-old Frenchman recognises the difficulties Gonzalez faces as many Spanish riders attempt to reach MotoGP every year. But he also knows there are benefits of remaining in Moto2 for another season after winning the title.

"Also this is not easy for a Spanish rider to perform in Moto2 and don’t have good possibilities to go in MotoGP, because there are many good Spanish riders," he told our colleagues at Crash.net.

"But if he can fight for the title and get the title this year, and then repeat it next year, if he can take the positives of it and still work on himself to keep growing up personally, then he can become very strong.

"That’s what I did in 2016. I didn’t care too much about the fame that you can gain in MotoGP, because I was not conscious that in MotoGP you can gain money and fame.

"So, I was out of this and I was just focused on trying to do well. And I learned so much in my second title because it was not easy to win it, and then from this I arrived to MotoGP so strong."