Red Bull Rookies get ready for season finale and last title fight at Aragon

There are still 50 points on offer for the rider who wins both races at Motorland Aragon this coming weekend and if either Scott Deroue or Philipp Oettl are going to wrest the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup from Florian Alt they are going to need them. The 3 leading contenders are all 16 years old and the German has a 29 point advantage over Dutchman Deroue and is 49 ahead of fellow German Oettl going into the final event.

Obviously Oettl has only an outside chance as he needs to win both races, have Alt score zero and Deroue take 30 or less if he is to take the Cup. Between Deroue and Alt there are more complex combinations but assuming Deroue wins both races Alt at least needs to pick up 12 points if he is to the overall victor, finishing 10th both times would do it or 4th in one race.

So Alt has the odds on his side, he has only failed to finish twice this year, a technical failure in Jerez and a fall in Estoril. He has 4 victories to his name and as he showed when fighting for the lead in Misano he is not just going to sit back and watch. He will though, not take many risks, very much a thinking rider who knows what it takes to win championships having wrapped up the German 125cc title at Hockenheim, the day after the last Rookies race in Misano.

Deroue also comes to Aragon on form having finished a good 3rd in the Dutch National Moto3/125 round at Assen last weekend, a race combined with a round of the British National Moto3/125 championship. Deroue was riding his Rookies spec KTM 125 and and just got across the line ahead of British 125 champion Kyle Ryde riding his Moto3 machine. Ryde has yet to match his Rookies Cup pace with his performances at home and would obviously love to do so at Aragon.

The British 15 year year old is not the only one with thoughts on race wins rather than Cup positions, fellow countryman Bradley Ray was fastest in all 3 practice sessions at Misano, though he had never seen the circuit before and will doubtless be one of those towards the front in Spain. Another who has had no problems learning tracks this year is Karel Hanika. The 16 year old Czech is on fantastic form having won in Misano and Brno.

Equally, Livio Loi, the 15 year old Belgian is certain to feature. A win, a 2nd and a 3rd from the last 3 races has shown his capabilities and he has the added spur of looking to put right the injustice of leading for most of the race in Italy just to be deposed with 2 corners to go.

Lukas Trautmann, the 16 year old Austrian and winner at the Sachsenring followed Hanika across the line in Misano, pushing Loi to 3rd and he is also capable of fighting for the win over the final weekend. The locals will be there as well, the 3 Spanish 14 year olds; Marcos Ramirez, 2nd twice already this year, and Diego Perez, twice 3rd are strong candidates as is Jorge Martin who returns from injury.

Both Martin and 14 year old German Willi Albert had to sit out Misano after they came together during Race 2 in the Czech Republic. Unfortunately Albert will also miss the Aragon races. Though his injured right arm is recovering he does not have enough power in it to race immediately. Simon Danilo, the 15 year old Frenchman, continues the promising recovery from his injuries.

Both Rookies Cup races in Aragon can be seen live on www.redbull.tv and on TV stations around the world. Race 1 is at 16.30 CET on Saturday September 29th and Race 2 is on Sunday at 15.30, the show starts 10 minutes before the race.

Source: Red Bull Rookies Press Release