After another close-fought battle in Round 2 at the Lausiztring, the Northern Talent Cup is now heading back west to Hockenheim for the third round of 2020. Two more races, one on Saturday and one on Sunday this time around, put another 50 points on the table and the grid will be eager to hit back against points leader Freddie Heinrich (PrüstelGP Junior Team).
Heinrich was the first winner of the year and hasn’t been off the podium since, giving him some breathing space at the top of the standings with a 13-point gap back to second. With pace confirmed at each venue so far, he’ll be confident on the way in – but his rivals know it’s fast becoming now or never. We’re halfway, and the German shows no signs of slowing down…
Second overall heading into Hockenheim is Lorenz Luciano (Junior Black Knights Team), with the Belgian on 68 points after one win and two further podiums. He’ll obviously be looking to gain more ground on Heinrich, but he also has a healthy 19-points in hand over Hungarian Soma Görbe (HRE Team) in third, so could that make him even more willing to really push at the front?
Görbe, meanwhile, is another who’s won a race and will want to do so again after late heartbreak at the Lausitzring. He’s also got Jakub Gurecky (JRT of Automotodrom Brno) not so far off him. The Czech rider had two technical problems and didn’t score in Round 1, but he bounced back with a third place and a win so he’ll likely be in the front group once again. In an almost mirror image of Gurecky’s bad luck, Romanian Jacopo Hosciuc (Hos Racing Team) was second and fourth in Round 1 before his issues hit at the Laustizring. He’s now down in eighth overall in a close group in the standings, but his pace so far says he should be in the fight for the podium once again.
That close group sees six riders split by just 11 points. Jakob Rosenthaler (RTR - Racing Team Rosenthaler) is on 39 in fifth, three ahead of both Jonas Kocourek (JRT of Automotodrom Brno) and Noel Willemsen (NW Racing), with Hosciuc slotting in next. Dutchman Kas Beekmans (KNMV) is just behind the Romanian, with Tibor Varga (Forty Racing Team) rounding out the top ten in the standings, just 11 points off P5. They’ve all fought for the top six, some for the podium… and all have been pretty consistent scorers. How will Hockenheim shuffle that pack? And can those just behind get into the mix?
There are also two wildcards this weekend, Julius Coenen (HJRT) and Kilian Holzer (Holzer Racing), so it will be interesting to see how they fit into the pack.
Race 1 for the NTC at the classic Hockenheimring is on Saturday at 17:35 (GMT +2), before Race 2 on Sunday at 13:30. Will Heinrich keep his lead on home turf? Can Luciano, Görbe and the frontrunners fight back? And will anyone break clear of the deadlock mid-pack? It’s been hundredths deciding NTC races so far in 2020, so make sure to keep up to date with the race weekend across social media, on northerntalentcup.com and motogp.com!