Brad Binder's historic MotoGP victory on the Red Bull KTM at Brno last Sunday was the ex-Rookie's first in the premier class, but it was the 16th GP victory to date for the 3 Moto2016 World Champion.
It was also victory number 104 for the former Cup Rookies at the Czech Grand Prix, as former participants were present on all three podiums. John Zarco took third place in MotoGP, Enea Bastianini won Moto2, Joe Roberts the third and Ai Ogura the third in Moto3.
It is now the turn of the 26 2020 Rookies to follow in the footsteps of their heroes, during the 12 rounds of the 2020 Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup.
After last week's two days of testing, they are well prepared, with good and bad weather, and the KTM RC 250 Rs are all ready for action. The Red Bull Ring test made it clear that the many new names do not need much time to get up to speed and that the championship is wide open from the start.
As usual, there will be two free practice sessions and a qualifying session on Friday, while a race is organized on Saturday, then another on Sunday. This program will be repeated throughout the season.
As commented Brad Binder, “It’s exactly the same as when I was in the Rookies 10 years ago. The only thing that's changed is that they now race 4-strokes. Otherwise, it's the same thing, practicing start procedures, and learning the bikes and the track. »
« I think I was still 12 when I went to the tryouts in 2008. I was very happy to be selected the first time.
One thing that really comes to mind when I think about it is when we went to the first pre-season test at Jerez 2009, we saw that the MotoGP guys were testing at the same time. I was crazy: I remember sitting in the grandstand every chance I got, watching Rossi and all the great drivers spin. That’s when I realized how big it was and what an amazing category it is. »
2020 Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup Schedule:
August 15 and 16: Race 1 & Race 2 in Spielberg, Austria
August 22-23: Race 3 & Race 4 in Spielberg, Austria
October 17 and 18: Race 5 & 6 in Aragón, Spain
October 24 and 25: Race 7 & 8 in Aragón, Spain
November 7-8: Race 9 & 10 in Valencia, Spain
November 14 & 15: Race 11 & 12 in Valencia, Spain
Provisional list of registrants:
5 Tatchakorn Buasri (Thailand)
6 Phillip Tonn (Germany)
7 Daniel Muñoz (Spain)
11 Alex Escrig (Spain)
13 Sho Nishimura (Japan)
19 Scott Odgen (Great Britain)
23 Alex Millan (Spain)
24 Iván Ortolá (Spain)
28 Matteo Bertelle (Italy)
29 Billy van Eerde (Australia)
33 Izan Guevara (Spain)
34 Mario Aji (Indonesia)
37 Pedro Acosta (Spain)
38 David Salvador (Spain)
39 Bartholomé Perrin (France)
48 Gabin Planques (France)
55 Noah Dettwiler (Switzerland)
58 Luca Lunetta (Italy)
64 David Muñoz (Spain)
80 David Alonso (Colombia)
84 Zonta van den Goorbergh (Netherlands)
88 Artem Maraev (Russia)
89 Marcos Uriarte (Spain)
95 Collin Veijer (Netherlands)
96 Daniel Holgado (Spain)
97 Rocco Landers (United States)
