NTS RW Racing GP has enlisted the Polish rider Piotr Biesiekirski to replace the recovering Jesko Raffin. 18-year-old Biesiekirski will make his Moto2™ World Championship debut as the youngest rider on the grid during this weekend’s Tissot Emilia Romagna and Rimini Riviera Grand Prix at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli.
Currently sixth in the European Moto2™ Championship, Biesiekirski started his racing career in 2015, at the age of 13, before winning the Polish Moto3™ Championship the following season. In 2018, aged just 16, he finished third overall in the Spanish Open 600 Championship and made his European Moto2™ debut, as the first and only Pole and the youngest rider on the grid.
Jarno Janssen, NTS RW Racing GP Team Manager: "It has always been the team’s goal to scout young and talented riders, with the potential to grow. This is exactly what we see in Piotr: a young and talented rider who has been making a promising learning curve in the Moto2 European Championship."
"Besides that, we have actively been looking for a rider from outside the World Championships, to avoid conflicting obligations, like having to race in classes like MotoE, that will be active in Misano this weekend as well. We realize it will be a big challenge for Piotr to step in halfway during the season, on a track he has never raced on, and at this young age. The goal for this weekend is just to get to know each other, for Piotr to get familiar with the NTS and the team and what it is like being in the World Championships."
Piotr Biesiekirski: "I’m honoured by the fact that a World Championship team appreciated our hard work and progress in the European Moto2 Championship, giving me the chance to make my dream come true and make my Grand Prix debut. To be here just five years after making my track debut is a testimony of the hard work of many people around me. Of course, I’m very excited but I’m also well aware of the challenge ahead.
"While for everyone else on the grid it will be just another race, and a second back-to-back one at the same track, I’ll be making my debut on a new circuit and on a new motorcycle. I have a lot to learn and will be approaching this weekend more like a test rather than a race. I would also like to wish Jesko a speedy recovery. It won’t be easy to stand in for a double European Moto2 Champion, but I will give my best, as always. My goal is to put in a lot of good work this weekend, get as much data and make as big of a progress as I can."