All eyes will be on the Finetwork FIM JuniorGP™ World Championship this weekend as the stars of the future take centre stage alongside MotoGP™ at Misano. Furthermore, the title could be decided on Saturday with Team Estrella Galicia 0,0’s Jose Rueda in a commanding position heading to the iconic venue.
The young Spaniard holds a lead of 81 points heading to the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli and with only three races remaining following the weekend, he will be crowned Champion if he can keep his lead at 75 points or more. And, given his recent form, you’d be brave to bet against it. Five wins from his last six races, including a dominant win at Portimão last time out in mid-July, the talented teenager is down as the big pre-race favourite.
The 16-year-old’s closest title rival heading to Italy is SIC Racing’s Syarifuddin Azman. The Malaysian jumped up to second in the standings after clinching second spot at the Algarve rollercoaster and will be hoping, at the very least, to delay Rueda’s celebrations. Two points further back is David Salvador, with the Laglisse Academy man hoping to make a podium return following a brace of fourth place finishes.
Fourth overall heading to the Adriatic coast is Angel Piqueras. After crashing out of podium contention last time out, the Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 rider will be determined to bounce back. He sits just one point clear of Aspar Junior Team’s Filippo Farioli after the Italian was handed a 55 second penalty for irresponsible riding in Portimão. What happened? At the start of the final lap, the 17-year-old wiped out both his Aspar teammate David Alonso and SIC58 Squadra Corse’s Harrison Voight, so Farioli will be looking for a less dramatic finish on the Adriatic. For his part, Voight will be making his Grand Prix debut as a wildcard in Misano and, therefore, won’t be on the JuniorGP™ grid.
Alonso sits sixth after his none score in Portimão, ahead of Honda Racing Thailand’s Tatchakorn Buasri and Cuna de Campeones’ Adrian Cruces. Buasri will be aiming to make it three straight top six finishes, whilst Cruces will no doubt be dreaming of another podium visit following his Portimão heroics. Finetwork Mir Racing Team’s David Almansa is ninth overall after backing up his Jerez podium with a top five finish in Portugal, before AGR Team’s Collin Veijer rounds out the top ten as he returns to the circuit he bagged fourth at twelve months ago. Can they impress once again as the Championship heads for its biggest stage of the year?
Will the title be wrapped up in Misano? You’ll have to tune in to find out with the 17-lap scrap getting underway at 17:15 local time (GMT+2) on Saturday September 3rd!
You can also find all the results, videos, photos and information regarding the championship on the official website: www.fimjuniorgp.com