Lovers of art will marvel over the perfection of the Statue of David in Florence. We are just as in awe of Mugello’s perfect curves in the Tuscan hills above the famous city.
It is there, with scant thought of Michelangelo, that the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies will create two further masterpieces, races 7 and 8 of the 2023 season. Not using chisels on stone but KTM’s on tarmac, the world’s fastest teens are led by Angel Piqueras who has won all but one of this year’s 6 races.
That puts him on a stratospheric trajectory, there are still 8 races to be contested and the 16-year-old Spaniard might well better the record wins in a season, 8 wins out of 13 races by Bo Bendsneyder in 2015.
Impressive runs do end
Looking at the record books offers valuable lessons though. Pedro Acosta won the first 6 races of 2020, was only on the podium in half the remaining 6 and didn’t take the top step again. He did win the Cup though and the Moto3 World Championship the next season.
So genius is no guarantee of success and Piqueras has been pushed hard all year. So far only Màximo Quiles has finished in front of him and the 15-year-old Spaniard has yet to summon the form that made him a fraction superior to Piqueras in ’22. It was Quiles who won Race 1 in Mugello last year.
A hero at home
Piqueras looks very much the master even though Rico Salmela, Álvaro Carpe, Jacob Roulstone and Guido Pini have come so close to beating him. Pini, the 15-year-old Italian is of course racing at home, literally a few kilometres from home as he lives in the nearest village, the beautiful Scarperia.
Pini has the raw talent to win at home, he has been error-prone so far this year but looked very strong in Le Mans, if he can carry on with that progress at home he could produce something very special
Splendour over score
If not, Piqueras still has plenty of opposition to his adding to the impressive wins total. A Mugello double would, incredibly, propel him into equal 2nd in the all-time wins list where he would stand with Bendsneyder, Acosta and Can Öncü on 9 wins from 2 seasons. Only Karel Hanika has one more.
Statistics be damned, when that Rookies Cup KTM slipstreaming train is threading its way along the fabulously graceful ribbon of tarmac it will be the thrill of the chase and the beauty of the moment that captures us, not the numbers.
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 CET on Saturday and Race 2 is on Sunday at 08:50, the show starts 10 minutes before the race.
For more info checkout our dedicated Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup News page Rookies Cup News
Or visit the official Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup website rookiescup.redbull.com/
