This weekend will see the third round of the FIM CEV Repsol season at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, where there will be the usual full program of races. After the Moto3™ Junior World Championship event at the HJC Helmets Grand Prix de France, the other categories return to action at the same circuit where the Grand Premi Monster Energy of Catalonia recently took place.
Jeremy Alcoba (Junior Team Estrella Galicia 0,0) is on home turf to defend his leadership of the Moto3™ Junior World Championship. He arrives with 41 points against the 33 of Dennis Foggia (Junior Team VR46 Academy) after winning the inaugural event in Albacete and finishing third in Le Mans. Alonso López (Junior Team Estrella Galicia 0,0), winner of the last round in France ahead of Dennis Foggia and Jeremy Alcoba, is currently third in the overall standings, trailing the Italian Junior Team VR46 Academy rider by 8 points. Vicente Pérez (Reale Avintia Academy) and Aleix Viu (42Motorsport) will be worth keeping an eye on after their appearance as guest riders at the Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya. On this occasion, the Moto3™ riders will face two races on Sunday at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
In Moto2™, predictions look difficult. World Championship rider Hafizh Syahrin (Petronas Raceine), who rode in Albacete just to get some distance under his wheels and ended up winning, will not dispute this second round; nor will Augusto Fernández (Easyrace M2), who is also taking part in the Moto2™ World Championship, and has confirmed his withdrawal from the FIM CEV Repsol. Héctor Garzo (Team Wimu CNS) will be looking to build on his excellent debut in the category with his second place in Albacete at the controls of the Tech3. As with Moto3™, the schedule for this weekend involves two races.
In Superstock 600 there will surely will be a bitter tussle between Miquel Pons (H43Team Nobby), Luc Mamet (Team Stratos), Philippe Le Gallo (Yamaha Laglisse) and Diego Carbo Escriva (Stratos) for the podium.
The new European Talent Cup returns with its first race at a MotoGP™ track. Simon Jespersen (Team Jespersen) arrives in Barcelona as the leader of the category after winning the opening round and finishing fifth in the second. Manuel González (Halconcourier Racing) is level on points with the Danish rider while Alex Toledo (Cradle of Champions) is third in the general classification only three points adrift: things could hardly be closer.
The Kawasaki Z900s, the European Kawasaki Z Cup bikes, will also be out on the track in the third race of this mono-brand cup after the first two races at the opening event of the season at Albacete. Raúl Martínez (Motorbike competition) is the man to beat after winning the first races and finishing runner-up in the second.
Next Sunday's race schedule is as follows:
Moto3™ race 1 (16 laps): 11.00
Moto2™ race 1 (17 laps): 12.00
European Talent Cup (15 laps): 13.00
Moto3™ race 2 (16 laps): 14.00
Moto2™ race 2 (17 laps): 15.00
European Kawasaki Z Cup (16 laps): 16.00
As usual, entrance to the paddock will be free all weekend. In addition, FIM CEV Repsol fans who go to the main access of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya paddock on Sunday morning can take part in the Pit Lane Walk. Only the first arrivals will get a pass, with a maximum of two passes per person. The Pit Lane Walk will take place at 10.15 am, starting from the control tower.
In Spain, races will be broadcast live on the Movistar MotoGP channel, which will show all of the scheduled races in the Moto3™ Junior World Championship, the Moto2™ European Championship and the European Talent Cup categories. In Italy, Sky will broadcast live the Moto3™ Junior World Championship and the Moto2™ European Championship races. Sport TV Portugal will broadcast a recorded version of all the races.
BT Sports (UK) and Eurosport, via Eurosportplayer (France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Romania) will also offer coverage of the Moto3™ Junior World Championship, the Moto2™ European Championship and the European Talent Cup with a live broadcast of each of the races.
In the United States through its digital medium, Motor Trend OnDemand will air races in all of the categories; while in Brazil Moto2™ European Championship fans will be able to watch the recorded races on Band Sports.
Covering much of Latin America and North America as well as France, Motorsport.com will offer live broadcasts on demand of each of the races of the three main categories, while its partner MotorSportTV will offer recorded coverage in these areas via TV.
In addition, all of the races will be shown live on the Championship's Youtube channel.