After a sensational opening two races of the 2022 Northern Talent Cup season at Le Mans last weekend, a short trip over to Germany sees some of Europe’s brightest stars return to their pre-season testing venue for Round 2: Oschersleben.
After winning Race 1 and claiming P3 in Race 2 at a sun-drenched Le Mans, Rossi Moor (FAIRIUM Next Generation Riders Team) leads the Cup standings – but only by a point. That’s because Loris Veneman (TeamNL Open Line) racked up a pair of second place finishes in France to kick start his season in style, benefitting from Moor’s one-place penalty after the Hungarian exceeded track limits at the final corner of Sunday’s epic Race 2 encounter, too.
Coming into the weekend just behind Moor and Veneman in the standings is the winner of Race 2, Kevin Farkas (Agria Racing Team). P4 and a win were the Hungarian’s results in Le Mans and before the two races at Oschersleben, the leading trio are covered by just three points. But title leader Moor comes into the weekend knowing he was able to bag two P5 finishes last season, so will the Hungarian have the edge this time around? Time will tell.
Having said that, it wasn’t Moor on top of the timesheets in pre-season testing. That accolade went the way of Dustin Schneider (Goblin Racing), who heads to home soil after a solid opening weekend of the campaign. A Long Lap penalty hampered the German’s Race 1 from the front row, but Schneider bounced back with a P5 in Race 2. He sits behind the leading trio, Matteo Masili (FAIRIUM Next Generation Riders Team) – a debut podium finisher in Le Mans – and Noa Cuypers (Junior Black Knights) in the overall standings.
One rider to look out for in Germany will be Lenoxx Phommara (Team Phommara). The Swiss rider finished P3 in Race 1 last year when the NTC field visited Oschersleben, and the elder Phommara brother on the grid will be hungry to bounce back from his Race 2 crash in Le Mans.
Two more races await the NTC teams and riders this weekend on Saturday and Sunday. Tune into Race 1 at 15:15 (GMT +2) and Race 2 at 14:05 to see who will emerge victorious from the classic Oschersleben layout!