Hohenstein-Ernstthal. In front of more than 200,000 spectators, the drivers of the Northern Talent Cup drove their seventh and eighth race of the season at the Sachsenring this weekend. As part of the MotoGP, the young riders were able to get very close to their big idols, although some rain showers made the training sessions difficult. Martin Vincze (VM Racing Team) from Hungary won the first race on Saturday, while Rocco Caspar Sessler (MCA Racing) made a German national anthem with a third win of the season on Sunday and even took the championship lead in the Northern Talent Cup.
The first free practice session at the Sachsenring took place in dry conditions, but the second session was in the wet. During qualifying for the Northern Talent Cup, the tarmac started to dry but presented difficult conditions. The first race, on the other hand, was also started on a drying track with slicks.
In the changeable conditions, Lenoxx Phommara (Team Phommara) from Switzerland was able to secure pole position and deliver a strong first race. The Swiss secured second place behind Martin Vincze and initially extended the championship lead on Saturday as Rocco Caspar Sessler, who had shared the lead with Phommara before, unfortunately crashed. Frenchman Antoine Nativi (CTM 83 Junior Team) took third place in the first run behind Vincze and Phommara, followed by Filip Novotny (DG Corse) from the Czech Republic and Swiss Levin Phommara (Team Phommara).
But in the second race on Sunday morning, Sessler reacted impressively. The German of the MCA Racing Team fought in the lead positions from the beginning of the race, skilfully overtaking his rivals in the final laps. With several strong maneuvers, Sessler not only celebrated his third victory in 2023 and the big success in the season highlight in MotoGP, but also took the championship lead after four of the seven events from Phommara, who retired in the second race with a technical defect.
“The first race was actually not that good,” admitted the 14-year-old. “I tried to push at the start and saw that I can push. Then, unfortunately, I hit a wet spot and crashed. I couldn’t stop it. Then I was very sad, mainly because of the general classification, but of course I knew it was far from over.” Sessler continued: “In the second race it was a shame for Lenoxx that he retired. Again, it’s good for me, especially for the championship, that I’m now five points up. I hope to be able to expand it into Most”.
229 seconds behind Sessler, Dutchman Kyano Schoo (KS Racing) secured second place and his first podium finish in the Northern Talent Cup. Sessler’s MCA Racing teammate Julius Ahrenkiel-Frellsen finished third. Vincze and Novotny finished fourth and fifth after an exciting race and numerous battles.
Anakin Zelenak struggled with the conditions in qualifying and only started both races from 17th place, but in the first race the 14-year-old jumped up and was even briefly in the lead. After battling with the leaders for 16 laps, he finished sixth. In the second race on Sunday, the JRP Academy Racing Team rider struggled a bit, but in the end he was equally good and snatched the tenth position, just 45 thousandths ahead of Julius Coenen, who also contested the weekend as a guest starter for the JRP Academy Team had.
“The weekend went very well,” Zelenak summed up. “Unfortunately it rained in qualifying and as I had never ridden in the rain, I qualified 17th. The first race was really good because I climbed up from 17th to 7th place on the first lap and during the race I was also first and I finished sixth”. The 14-year-old continues to tell: “The second race also went very well Well. I managed to recover some positions in the first corner. Unfortunately I didn’t have a good feeling in the long corners, so I couldn’t keep up the pace. However, I had exciting duels with my teammate Julius and managed to finish the race in tenth place.”
As early as next week, the Northern Talent Cup riders will continue for the fifth round of the season in Most, in the Czech Republic, where they will once again be at the start of the IDM from 23 to 25 June.