A SECOND ROOKIES CUP WEEK END IN AUSTRIA AND ONLY DAVID ALONSO DOES NOT NEED TO IMPROVE

Four fabulous races to go in the 2021 Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup and David Alonso has very much staked his title claim. Last weekend in Spielberg saw the Colombian 15-year-old broadcast his intention loud and clear with a strong 3rd in a sensational Race 1 and a dominant Race 2 victory, opening his points lead to 18.

David Muñoz is still chasing strongly, the 15-year-old Spaniard bettered Alonso in Qualifying but 4th and 3rd after the intense, elbow rubbing, action were not quite enough and he knows he has to reverse the trend in the Austrian GP races this weekend at the same venue.

Alonso was thrilled with the performance of his KTM while Muñoz knows that he can improve his bike’s set-up this Friday. Everyone gets to watch the incredible race videos of last weekend and review the performance of themselves and their bike, then improve both with two more Free Practice sessions and then Qualifying before races on Saturday and Sunday.

Stay off the green

For Daniel Holgado it is not so much a question of bike setting but fine tuning his racing lines as he twice suffered serious points loss thanks to 3 second, post race penalties for exceeding track limits. That has put him 43 off the lead in 3rd place. The 16-year-old Spaniard needs to add to his single Jerez victory if he is going to put his Cup challenge back on track.

Always fast but still looking for his first win of the season, Ivan Ortolá needs to make up 60 points on Alonso so will need to grab a huge chunk of the 100 still on offer for the remaining races. A victory for the 17-year-old Spaniard would add to the 6 different winners already this season. The record is 8.

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Plenty of winners

It was Saturday’s Race 1 winner, Spanish 15-year-old Daniel Muñoz, who became the 6th winner and he is now 6th in the title chase behind Brazilian 17-year-old Diogo Moreira who missed the first Austrian race weekend after testing positive for Covid 19 but should be cleared this week.

Italian 17-year-old Matteo Bertelle is 7th in the points table and after winning in Germany has shown that he can finish in front. He was a major player in the fabulous lead group contests in the first two Austrian races but could not find the right place in the closing laps.

Ready to claim number 1

Marcos Uriarte was unlucky yet again and this time a rare technical issue put him out of contention late in Race 2 leaving him 8th in the points table and still looking for his first win of his 3 year Cup career. He came close with second in Germany Race 1.

Similarly poised after 2nd in last Sunday’s Race 2 is Thailand’s Tatchakorn Buasri. The 20 year old is in his 2nd Cup season and much faster, twice on the podium and showing strong improvement from the 10th place that was his best last year. He is determined to claim top spot on at least one of the remaining podiums and improve on the 9th place he holds in the points table.