Flat out Assen changes Rookies Cup direction

June 26, 2024

Flat out Assen changes Rookies Cup direction

The Rookies Cup is thrilling and unpredictable, we have already had 5 different winners in the first 6 races of the season.

After the swooping changes of elevation in Mugello we arrive in Assen, it’s a flat, very different challenge for the KTM riding teens. The corners are linked in a snaking chain that demands a special mastery as the season pivots into its second half.

The 18th Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup has already demonstrated that it is not just the established stars like Álvaro Carpe, Marco Morelli and Màximo Quiles who can win. Newcomers Brian Uriarte took victory in Le Mans and Valentin Perrone claimed 1st last time out in Mugello.

The best-laid plans
Carpe, the 17-year-old Spaniard, started this season with a 4th and a 1st in Jerez to instigate a very clear plan; Win when you can don’t risk too much and keep building the points. So far he only has that single victory but he has finished on the podium 4 times and always in the top 5, he stands 3rd in the points chase.

Morelli won the first race of the year but has not been able to match Carpe’s consistency, he has yet to get back in the top 5. He fell at the second round and suffered a technical failure in Italy. 7th in the title chase, the Argentine needs a weekend of great results before his 17th birthday next Wednesday.

No Quiles in Assen
Topping the points table is 16-year-old Màximo Quiles but the Spaniard will not be ahead after Assen for he is not allowed to compete after triggering a dramatic incident at the end of the last race. Following Mugello Race 2, the FIM Rookies Cup Stewards Panel stated that Quiles was, “found to have caused a crash by swerving into the line of another rider at the exit at Turn 15.” As a result of this the Panel, “has imposed a Suspension from participation in the Motul TT Assen.”

With 50 points on offer this weekend, Uriarte, Carpe, Perrone and Hakim Danish could all get ahead of him.

The complete racers
Uriarte is a first-year Rookie and just 8 points behind Quiles. The Spaniard started the year with 6th and 3rd in Jerez, not bad. 5th and 1st in Le Mans was better. Double 2nd in Mugello might have thrilled him but the 15-year-old reprised the old ‘second is the first loser’ adage to express his frustration.

One of the youngest Rookies but already commanding a great balance of thought and aggression, he knows exactly what he is doing and why. An old head on young shoulders.

Perrone comes across as more easy-going but certainly not superficial. The 16-year-old Argentine did not know ‘exactly what he is doing and why’ when he took victory in Mugello, admitting that his plan for the last lap was; “Just push like crazy and see what happens.”

Not as measured as Uriarte perhaps or not yet ready to explain in the same way, he seems almost as effective. He stands 4th in the points table having been 2nd in the first race of the season, scored two 4ths and always finished in the top 7.

The kids looking for a comeback
Some have had a more frustrating first three events including Rico Salmela and Ruché Moodley who were both Cup favourites starting their 3rd seasons. Salmela, the 16-year-old Finn, has certainly been in the hunt, two 5thin Jerez, 2nd in Le Mans Race 1. But 20th in Race 2 and a fall in Mugello have left him 6th in the points table with half the total that Quiles has amassed.

The fight is certainly not over but he needs a great Assen, it was not kind to him last year, 20th and 11th. Moodley took 6th in Race 1 and suffered a fall in Race 2 but he can battle for the win. This year a couple of falls have left him 10th in the title chase but the second of those was in no way his fault, the 17-year-old South African was lucky to escape serious injury in the Quiles Mugello incident.

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 17:00 CEST on Saturday and Race 2 is on Sunday at 15:30, the show starts 10 minutes before the race.