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Finetwork FIM JuniorGP World Championship readies for 25th season to kick-off at Estoril

The 2022 season is ready to ignite as the next generation of Champions takes to the track this weekend.

A new season, new possibilities, and a land of opportunities. Celebrating 25 years of providing the future stars of World Championship action, the 2022 Finetwork FIM JuniorGP™ World Championship fires up this weekend at the Circuito do Estoril, Portugal. In what is one of the most anticipated seasons, there’ll be a fresh feel at the front of all classes as ever, as reigning Champions move on and fast rookies graduate to all classes. Starting this weekend in Portugal and finishing in Spain at the end of October, the 25th season is a mouth-watering prospect.

JuniorGP
Starting with JuniorGP™, there’s plenty of familiar names in the class for 2022. The top four, including reigning Champion Daniel Holgado, all move on from the class and onto the next stage of their careers, meaning the highest placed returnee to the class is Spaniard David Salvador (Laglisse Academy). Two podiums in 2021 left him fifth overall and still chasing a first win. Colombia’s David Alonso (Aspar Junior Team) is the next-best returnee to the class, with the 2020 Hawkers European Talent Cup winner targeting a first win in the class for himself and likewise for his country after two podiums in 2021. The third-best rider who remains in the category from 2021 is Syarifuddin Azman (SIC Racing), the Malaysian being the only race winner on the 2022 grid, whilst all three have FIM Moto3™ World Championship experience under their belt.

Whilst there’re familiar names at the front, a new guard will look to take charge, as bright prospects graduate from the Hawkers ETC. 2021 runner-up Adrian Cruces (Cuna de Campeones) moves up, as do Xabi Zurutuza (Angeluss MTA Team) and Alvaro Carpe (STV – MT Helmet – MSI), all of which were race winners in 2021. Carpe will join from Round 3 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya due to the minimum age limit. Jacob Roulstone (Aspar Junior Team) likewise graduates, the Australian also a race winner in the Hawkers ETC class of 2021; his sole win came at Estoril before he finished with two podiums. In total, there’ll be 17 nationalities on the grid in 2022, of which three will enjoy their first representation. Soma Görbe (Artbox), Torrin Collins (AGR Team) and Facundo Llambias (Team Estrella Galicia 0,0) will fly the flag for Hungary, Canada and Uruguay respectively.

Moto2
The duel in the Moto2™ European Championship will again be fierce as plenty of 2021 protagonists return. German rider Lukas Tulovic (Liqui Moly Intact JuniorGP Team) is one of the biggest names back in the class, as he hopes for a first win in his Moto2™ ECh career after a good few podiums. Xavi Cardelus (Promoracing) also goes in search of a first victory, but there’s plenty of opposition to fend off. Double Moto2™ ECh runner-up and multiple race winner Héctor Garzó (MV Agusta Forward Junior Team) is back, as Tommaso Marcon (MMR) and Marco Tapia (Easyrace Team) also join the class to bring some serious competition. The fight for the Stock crown will also, as ever, be a great race within a race.

ETC
The Hawkers ETC is another class which features some familiar faces, with reigning Champion Maximo Martinez (Team Laglisse Honda) back in action for another season. With three wins last year and finishing four of the last five races on the podium, the 14-year-old will aim to make more history in 2022. The next-best returning rider is Brian Uriarte (Team Estrella Galicia 0,0), with fourth overall last year and one victory. 2021 podium finishers Joel Esteban (Aspar Junior Team) and Alberto Ferrández (Finetwork Mir Junior Team) are back, as is Irish hopeful Casey O’Gorman (VisionTrack Racing Team), the reigning Honda British Talent Cup winner. His teammate is Johnny Garness, who is back in Hawkers ETC after race wins in the BTC at the start of 2022. In all, 21 nationalities from six continents make for a packed field once more in the Hawkers ETC.

The Sunday race schedule for the opening round of JuniorGP™ is as follows:

11:00 – Hawkers ETC Race 1: 16 laps
12:00 – Moto2™ ECh Race 1: 18 laps
13:00 – JuniorGP™: 17 laps
14:00 – Hawkers ETC Race 2: 16 laps
15:00 – Moto2™ ECh Race 2 : 18 laps

For more info checkout our dedicated FIM JuniorGP™ news page superbike-news.co.uk/cev-repsol/

You can also find all the results, videos, photos and information regarding the championship on the official website: www.fimjuniorgp.com/en

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The final thrill at Estoril: 2020 WorldSBK title fight settles in Portugal

For the first time since 2016, the title duel goes to the last round of the year, but will Jonathan Rea live up to expectation, or can Scott Redding make a memorable sporting storyline?

The 2020 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship is coming to a close as we come to the grand finale and the Pirelli Estoril Round. The title is on the line this weekend and whilst Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) is a clear favourite, Scott Redding (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) will do everything in his power to take the title race to Sunday. There’s 62 points available, 59 split the two riders and only one can be Champion. Let battle commence on WorldSBK’s much-anticipated return to racing at Estoril.

Jonathan Rea’s season has been staggering; perhaps not as dominant as we’ve seen from seasons gone-by but nonetheless, spectacularly consistent and devastatingly fast. The Northern Irishman should be able to wrap the Championship up on Saturday afternoon, barring acts of God and minor miracles elsewhere. This is motorcycle racing and it’s good to expect the unexpected, but Jonathan Rea’s form suggest he won’t be handing a 60-point swing to Scott Redding anytime soon. There’s an expectancy which brings pressure naturally, but Rea’s done this before…

For Scott Redding, the task in hand is easy to understand; win three races. The bigger, and arguably more pressing question is: will it be easy to execute? Redding has good experience with Estoril from his Grand Prix days and will at least head to the circuit without having to familiarise himself with it. However, he will have to understand a WorldSBK bike’s characteristics at the circuit. Heading to Estoril, Redding does have the experience, but it could be a disadvantage as he has that prior taste of the track and a comparison. For Rea, he knows no difference and starts from a blank canvas. An interesting dynamic, as much as the one for the title.

Away from the tussle for the title is the third-place battle between Chaz Davies (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) and Michael van der Mark (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team). In the last two rounds, Davies has taken a total of nine points more than van der Mark and the Dutchman now needs to overcome a gap of 19; he’s not done that all year and the last time he did do it was at Laguna Seca last year, when he scored 45 points more. Van der Mark was third overall in 2018 and he so dearly wants it back – but it was the same year that Davies was second in the title race, a place he’s not been near since. Can he hold off van der Mark for one more round?

24 points behind van der Mark, Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) leads the top five battle. He’s four points ahead of Toprak Razgatlioglu (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team) whilst Team GOELEVEN’s Michael Ruben Rinaldi is nine further back. All three riders know the importance of finishing inside the top seven overall and all three have been winners in 2020. It’s a battle that’ll go down to the wire on Sunday but who will come out on top come the close of the season?

Rinaldi is in another battle however, as he and Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) go in search of being best Independent rider of 2020. The battle is split by 31 points but that could be overcome. Three podiums in the last five races has meant that Baz is back in contention, but he’ll need a very special Estoril points haul to topple Rinaldi. The Italian in turn would need to have a difficult weekend and if he outscores Baz by seven points in Race 1, he can guarantee Independent glory.

The battle for top Honda also continues as Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC) lies ninth in the Championship, eight points ahead of teammate Leon Haslam – they are on 99 and 91 points respectively. Bautista had a disastrous Magny-Cours event but hopes to bounce back at a circuit he won at three times during his GP career. For Haslam, he achieved his best 250cc Grand Prix World Championship result here and hopes this can be the circuit he cracks the podium at. If not, it’d be his first full year since 2013 where he’s missed it.

Elsewhere, Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team) will aim to pinch a top ten place in the standings from Haslam. Currently on 78 and 13 behind Haslam, Gerloff has shown before he can surprise at new circuits, like at Catalunya with a podium. Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) is 12th and two points behind his arch-rival Gerloff and will take to Estoril for the first time, whilst in 13th is Federico Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team), four points ahead of Eugene Laverty (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team), who’s been to Estoril in GP.

Xavi Fores (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) lines up for the last time with Puccetti Racing, two points behind Laverty. Leandro Mercado (Motocorsa Racing) is behind the Spaniard by some margin with Sylvain Barrier (Brixx Performance) and Maximilian Scheib (ORELAC Racing VerdNatura) also close to Mercado – Chilean Scheib is subject to being declared fit after medical tests on Thursday. Takumi Takahashi’s (MIE Racing HONDA Team) hunt for points will see him bring an end to his first full season whilst stepping into WorldSBK for the first time is Belgian Loris Cresson (OUTDO Kawasaki TPR), replacing the still-recovering Sandro Cortese after his Portimao injuries.

Finally, the Manufacturers’ Championship is up for grabs and if Kawasaki can outscore Ducati by 11 points in Race 1, then they’ve got the Championship. If Kawasaki win, Ducati must have a rider finish on the podium. However, if Ducati take points off Kawasaki in Race 1 then the title will go to Sunday regardless.
#ESTWorldSBK: The final face-off

Championship Standings after Race 2, Round 7
1. Jonathan Rea (GBR) Kawasaki (340 points)
2. Scott Redding (GBR) Ducati (281 points)
3. Chaz Davies (GBR) Ducati (222 points)

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