Harrison Voight runs 4-4 in the opening game of the Red Bull Rookies Cup

2022 Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup Round 1 Portimao

Aussie youngster Harrison Voight scored 4-4 in the Red Bull Rookies’ season opener in Portimao, and finished the 2022 season opener in fourth place after a volatile weekend. active in Portugal while racing as a MotoGP promoter.

Australian teammate Jacob Roulstone had a mixed weekend, falling into qualifying and coming from behind the net to return to seventh place in Race 1. Unfortunately, a breakdown in Race 2, didn’t earn any points from that encounter but he still holds the 10th spot overall in the standings.

Unfortunately for New Zealand’s Cormac Buchanan after running eighth fastest in the test, he tested positive for Covid before the opening round and was sidelined. Round 2 at Jerez will be his first game of the season.

Qualification

Angel Piqueras took the lead by almost a second over fellow Spaniard Meto Quiles as the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup kicked off in Portimao alongside MotoGP. Australian Harrison Voight, 15, finished the front row for the opening round, just over a second ahead of Piqueras, after initially wanting to be on his way to pole.

Piqueras, 15, hit Portimão’s superb header to knock Voight off the top of the leaderboard, before then 14-year-old Quiles helped Aussie drop deeper.

Harrison Voight

“I am satisfied with that. I felt confident in the pre-collision wet test and thought I could get into the top 5 on the wet track but there was a lot of water going in today that made me feel unwell. It was better in Qualifiers and I have enough confidence to go on. For a wet race, I don’t know about doing 16 laps, the last wet race I did was when I was 9! ”

Topping the second row is Soma Görbe, 16 years old from Hungary. Casey O’Gorman is the man who dominated two very steamy Freestyle Practices and the 14-year-old started doing the same in the Qualifiers. His name appeared at the top of the screen but then in round 3 he didn’t, with a high hit ending his streak, but that pace will continue through the weekend.

Marcos Ruda, Gabin Planques, Tatchakorn Buasri, Rico Salmela and Eddie O’Shea finished the top 10 in qualifying.

Jacob Roulstone crashed early in qualifying and was forced to start from behind the net after failing to return to the track to score for some time, starting in 25th.

Portimao Red Bull’s rookie qualifying results – Top 10

Race 1

José Rueda made a stellar first run to win the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup at Portimão when the real action began. The 16-year-old Spaniard soon took the lead and had a near-perfect dribble to leave the group almost 10 seconds behind. In addition to his compatriot, Angel Piqueras hunted him and the 15-year-old hitchhiker got him in the penultimate round.

Piqueras had aimed for victory but a sudden change of direction caused his KTM RC 250 R to veer to the side and he was stopped. Rueda was left at home with a nine-second advantage over Casey O’Gorman and Collin Veijer.

Harrison Voight was a tenth of a second behind the podium result, followed by Tatchakorn Buasri and Gabin Planques at further distance after a long, tumultuous fight with multiple position changes at each turn.

Poleman Piqueras broke two toes on his right foot when he fell to challenge Rueda for the win. After a poor start from the middle of the front row, the 14-year-old Spaniard took the lead only to crash into a fallen bicycle in the final round.

Jacob Roulstone went home in seventh, leading the next pack, just ahead of Jakob Sosenthaler and Danial Shahril, while Lorenz Luciano finished the top 10.

Portimao Red Bull Rookie Race 1 result

Race 2

Thrilling action from the first round to the last saw 17-year-old Dutch Collin Veijer win the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup race in Portimão. Saturday’s winner José Rueda crossed the starting line first, but the 16-year-old Spaniard exceeded the track limit in the final turn and was therefore landed for a place.

Casey O’Gorman added a third to second place from the previous day and the 14-year-old Irishman only lost the win by the narrowest margin – 0.004 seconds.

The battle of seven KTM RC 250 Rs for the top spot left 15-year-old Australian Harrison Voight a bit disappointed with fourth place again, and tiny 14-year-old Finn Rico Salmela took a ride. went stormy to take the fifth place ahead of Tatchakorn Buasri, the 21-year-old Thai tennis player did a good job of taking the lead. The 17-year-old French tennis player Gabin Planques finished the lead pack in seventh place.

Harrison Voight

“Not really happy with that. I want to go to the podium. I tried really hard and it was a clean race until the last two laps and I didn’t like that very much. Every time I see 99 ahead I know I have to go with him. I don’t know I’m just going for it. It was a good race. ”

Rounding out the top 10 are Maximo Quiles, Eddie O’Shea and Luca Lunetta, eight seconds behind the leader.

Aussie Jacob Roulstone was less fortunate in Race 2, failing.

Arrive To learn more about Harrison Voight, check this outand a similar feature here on Jacob Roulstone will add more ground for young Australian players at this year’s Red Bull Rookies Cup.

Portimao Red Bull Rookie Race 2 results

Red Bull Rookies Ranking

Image: Gold & Goose /Red Bull Content Team