Round 3 of the 2022 Finetwork FIM JuniorGP™ World Championship takes us to the classic Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya as all three title race leaders – Jose Rueda (Team Estrella Galicia 0,0), Lukas Tulovic (Liqui Moly Intact JuniorGP™ Team) and Joel Esteban (Aspar Junior Team) – come into the weekend off the back of wins in Valencia.
You have a date with the best motorcycling this Sunday at @Circuitcat_eng ????️
— Finetwork FIM JuniorGP (@JuniorGP) June 8, 2022
Don't miss #JuniorGP Round 3 ????
And remember you have Free Entry with a #CatalanGP or #CATWorldSBK ticket! ????️#RoadToMotoGP???? pic.twitter.com/qB9oEBDGl5
Rueda narrowly missed out on a Race 1 victory last time out at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo but bounced back in Race 2 to pick up his maiden win of 2022 to come into Barcelona as the rider to chase. David Alonso (Aspar Junior Team) was the Race 1 JuniorGP™ winner and then crashed at the final corner in the afternoon outing, however the Colombian still managed to claim P7 to sit just a point behind second in the Championship David Salvador (Laglisse Academy) – the latter boasting three P3s to his name so far in 2022.
Tulovic’s 100% win record this season was extended last time out in the only Moto2™ ECh race of Round 2 after an intriguing battle with Alex Escrig (Yamaha Philippines Stylobike Racing Team). Senna Agius (Promoracing) looked set to fight for victory with both Tulovic and Escrig, but an early crash ended the Australian’s hopes of adding a third podium of the season to his name. 30 and 35 points is Tulovic’s advantage over Escrig and Agius in the overall standings, with two races facing the Moto2™ ECh riders in Barcelona.
In the Hawkers ETC, Esteban stood on the top step twice in Valencia to take his tally up to four wins from four – or so we thought, because that Race 2 victory was taken away from him after a post-race penalty was handed for a technical infringement. That means the gap between Esteban and Guido Pini (AC Racing Team) in the Championship is just 13 points, after the latter was promoted to P2 in Race 2. Reigning Hawkers ETC Champion Maximo Martinez (Team Honda Laglisse) got his first points of the season on the board with victory in Valencia – and the Spaniard was a podium finisher in Barcelona last year. Has that win ignited Martinez’s season? We’ll find out shortly.
Five races are coming up on Sunday, and it all kicks off at 11:00 CET with Race 1 from the JuniorGP™ class. See the time schedule in full below (local time, GMT+2):
11:00 – JuniorGP™ Race 1
12:00 – Moto2™ ECh Race 1
13:00 – Hawkers ETC Race
14:00 – JuniorGP™ Race 2
15:00 – Moto2™ ECh Race 2