He is obviously young and the fact that he is Spanish will surprise no one! But before discovering his name and the honors bestowed on him on Sunday evening, let’s take things back to the beginning…
The week of the Valencian Community Grand Prix was also held on the same circuit Ricardo Tormo the final of the new category set up by Dorna Sports and the FIM, the miniGP World Series.
Briefly, each country organizes national competitions reserved for young people aged 10 to 14, on Ohvale GP-0 160, racing machines powered by 4cc 160-T single cylinders developing a power of around 15 horsepower, with four gears, with 10-inch wheels shod exclusively with Pirelli casings.
Initially, around ten competitions were to take place this year in France, but the project is new and, with only four events, the championship was reduced to its bare minimum in this first year, still making it possible to select the three French drivers who were going to face their international opponents in Valencia: Matthias Rostagni (13 years), Enzo Giacomino (14 years) and Louca Frieh (13 years old), respectively 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the MiniGP France, were divided by draw into three groups for free practice, qualifying and the five races of the final in Spain.
From Tuesday to Thursday, the program was busy…
After the Tuesday formalities, Wednesday offered four free practice sessions for each group, which made it possible to establish an initial hierarchy...
No need to hide their faces, the French looked gloomy at the end of this confrontation with their comrades from the 9 other nations, while Spain already placed its three drivers in the top 5!
But there is nothing very surprising in this, our friends from across the Pyrenees being much more advanced, quantitatively and qualitatively, in this area. The interest of the formula put in place is precisely to be able to progress until reaching this level... That is to say gain a good second!
The first 8 were directly qualified for Q3, the next 10 went directly to Q2 where 4 drivers were drafted, while the others had to go through Q1 where 4 drivers were drafted for Q2…
This was therefore the case for our three French people, present in Q1.
Louca Frieh et Matthias Rostagni
took this first step while the adventure ended there for Enzo Giacomino.
Unfortunately, the adventure ended a little later in Q2 for Louca Frieh et Matthias Rostagni.
More French people at this level of the selections, but without a doubt acquired experience and a desire for revenge to be satisfied next year...
For the first 12, Q3 gave access to Race 1 while the others had to go through a qualifying race. We already notice the position of Spain…
Thursday began with two warm-ups depending on their place, then the first qualifying race of which only the first two drivers were drafted for the two “real” races of the afternoon. We will spare you the rest of the procedure to jump directly to Race 1.
RACE 1
Spanish Izan Rodriguez, whose name has never left the top of the rankings, got the perfect start and made the holeshot, but his compatriot Pablo Olivares was never far away. They brought a double to Spain, ahead of the Irish Josh O'Brien who was able to convert his fourth place on the grid into a podium.
RACE 2
With one more driver on the grid, the winner of qualifying race 2, there were 25 more points up for grabs and
Izan Rodriguez once again took the advantage, followed again like his shadow by Pablo Olivares. The two ultimately crossed the finish line separated by almost nothing in another one-two finish. This time, the fight for the last step of the podium was won by Christian Borrelli, the driver of the FIM MiniGP Italy series, author of a great comeback.
SUPER FINAL RACE
With 50 points at stake, everything came down to this final race, and this time Izan Rodriguez did not make the holeshot, bowing to his closest rival Pablo Olivares. But it didn't take long for the points leader to fight back and attack, taking the lead once again. Pablo Olivares then had to try to defend himself from attacks from the rear, and Izan Rodriguez broke away to win his third victory of the day! Christian Borrelli and his compatriot Edward Liguori came out on top in the group brawl, taking second and third place, respectively.
CHAMPIONSHIP RANKINGS
Izan Rodriguez performed flawlessly to become the inaugural champion of this first final and Pablo Olivares completes the Spanish double with two second places and a fourth position.
The young (11 years old) and impressive Izan Rodriguez was invited on Sunday evening to the FIM prize-giving ceremony, in the presence of Valentino Rossi et fabio quartararo…Guys, you know what you have to do!
