Back to back weekends at the Red Bull Ring replicate the four races that opened the late starting 2020 season. Those epic battles are remembered both for their intensity and the four victories by Pedro Acosta.
We knew we were watching something special and the 17-year-old Spaniard now leads the Moto3 World Championship with 4 victories already this season since swapping his Rookies Cup KTM for the Team Ajo factory version.
Rookies records
Acosta won the first six Rookies Cup races of 2020, a record. This Cup season is very different as we have already had 5 different winners in the 8 races run so far. Perhaps we are heading for a different record. The greatest number of different winners to date is 8, that was in 2011, also a 14 race season.
Heading this year’s points table is David Alonso and the 15-year-old Colombian, who started the year with double victory, also has the most wins, 3. Of those chasing, Spanish 15-year-old David Muñoz has 2 wins and is just 6 points adrift with 16-year-old fellow countryman Daniel Holgado a further 12 behind and a single victory.
Brazilian 17-year-old Diogo Moreira has yet to win a Rookies race but he is the best of the first year Rookies and has been on the podium 4 times and scored points in every race. He is 4th in the Cup table, 3 behind Holgado.
All to race for
The top 3 all fell starting the final lap of Race 2 at the Sachsenring, that closed up the points battle and helped Italian 17-year-old Matteo Bertelle to his first Cup victory. He is 50 points off the top of the table but there are still 150 on offer from the remaining 6 races this year.
The other race winner this season is 16-year-old Japanese Taiyo Furusato, no one should forget his shock debut win in Mugello. He has not repeated that incredible feat but has a good opportunity in Austria as he now knows the KTM well and has both weekends to make the best use of it.
Not only did the Sachsenring see a new winner but a new Rookie on the podium as 20-year-old Thai Tatchakorn Buasri grabbed third. That bettered by a long way his best of 2020 which was 10th in Aragon and was a great result for the popular rider.
If popularity is a consideration it is about time Indonesian 17-year-old Mario Aji got back on the podium, he has a huge following back home. He took a second in Valencia last year and a win would set social media alight.
Broadcast
This weekend’s Rookies Cup races can be seen live on www.redbull.tv and on TV stations around the world.
Race 1 is at 16:30 CET on Saturday and Race 2 is on Sunday at 15:30, the show starts 10 minutes before the race.
Or visit the official Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup website rookiescup.redbull.com/
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