Intact juniors underline their skill at Misano season opener
At the first race weekend of this year’s FIM JuniorGP™ World Championship in Italy, the young riders of the German LIQUI MOLY Husqvarna Intact GP Junior Team gave a taste of what to expect from them this year.
For the first time in the history of the most important junior two-wheels racing series, the season opener did not take place on a Spanish racetrack, as the organizers chose the Misano World Circuit for this event. The circuit not far from Rimini at Italy’s famous Adriatic coastline is no unknown terrain for some of the participants as Moto3 class has been a guest at the San Marino Grand Prix several times in recent years.
As known, LIQUI MOLY Husqvarna Intact GP Team will be racing with a total of four young riders in the JuniorGP-Moto3 class and European Talent Cup this year. Jakob Rosenthaler and Leo Rammerstorfer, both from Upper Austria, and the team’s new addition Rico Salmela from Finland will be chasing for points in Moto3 category, with Rosenthaler having most experience of the trio heading into his third season. Newcomer Salmela has made a name for himself in the last two years in European Talent Cup and therefore knows all the tracks on the calendar, apart from Misano.
Despite a lack of track knowledge, 16-year-old Salmela from the Finnish city of Nokia knew how to impress from the first practice last Thursday. P5 on the starting grid and several leading laps in the first race on Sunday were among the highlights of the weekend for the ambitious team from Memmingen in Germany’s Allgäu region. Unfortunately, he was pulled out of the race twice through no fault of his own.
From Rosenthaler’s point of view, Misano had some ups and downs to offer. Starting from fourth row, the 17-year-old showed promising performances in both races but could not be translated into the possible results, first due to a «long lap penalty» and two racing accidents in the second race, in which he was the trigger, unfortunately. Nevertheless, Rosenthaler opened his points tally with tenth place in the first race.
Rammerstorfer is contesting his second season in the series and has also started with a lot of ambition and steady upward performances. Ending up in 12th place in the season's opening race scoring points, after a harmless fall in the second race, he finished the weekend in 20th place. However, after the crash, his lap times and pace showed what he is capable of.
Like Salmela, 14-year-old Alex Longarela is also new to the Intact Junior Team. The young rider from Madrid is a promising talent, as his practice performances and positions in Misano clearly underlined. Misano was his first race weekend on international level and also his first outside of Spain, where Alex had no difficulties in adapting to changing conditions with a wet track at times. As fourth of his group in qualifying, this initially meant the direct entry into the races on Sunday, where he started from P8 on the grid, but he also crashed twice through no fault of his own.
The next stop of FIM JuniorGP™ World Championship 2024 is the Circuito do Estoril in Portugal on the first weekend of May.
#JuniorGP Round Misano - Moto3™ Qualiying Results:
1 Jesus RIOS / SPA / MRE Talent / KTM / 1´41.953
2 Adrían CRUCES / SPA / FINETWORK Team / KTM / 1´42.288 +0.335
3 Ruche MOODLEY / RSA / FINETWORK Team / KTM / 1´42.300 +0.347
5 #27 Rico SALMELA / FIN / LIQUI MOLY Husqvarna Intact GP Junior Team / Husqvarna / 1´42.498 +0.545
12 #78 Jakob ROSENTHALER / AUT / LIQUI MOLY HUSQVARNA INTACT GP JUNIOR TEAM / Husqvarna / 1´43.089 +1.136
20 #50 Leo RAMMERSTORFER / AUT / LIQUI MOLY HUSQVARNA INTACT GP JUNIOR TEAM / Husqvarna / 1´57.588 (Q1)
#JuniorGP Round Misano - Moto3™ Race 1 (16 Laps):
1 Jesus RIOS / SPA / MRE Talent / KTM / 27´35.607
2 Alessandro MOROSI / ITA / Aspar Junior Team / CFMOTO / +0.022
3 Marcos URIARTE / SPA / Aspar Junior Team / CFMOTO / +0.225
10 #78 Jakob ROSENTHALER / AUT / LIQUI MOLY Husqvarna Intact GP Junior Team / Husqvarna / +5.599
12 #50 Leo RAMMERSTORFER / AUT / LIQUI MOLY Husqvarna Intact GP Junior Team / Husqvarna / +13.458
NC #27 Rico SALMELA / FIN / LIQUI MOLY Husqvarna Intact GP Junior Team / Husqvarna
#JuniorGP Round Misano - Moto3™ Race 2 (16 Laps):
1 Jesus RIOS / SPA / MRE Talent / KTM / 27´36.326
2 Adrían CRUCES / SPA / FINETWORK Team / KTM / +0.318
3 Cormac BUCHANAN / NZL / AGR Team / KTM / +0.487
20 #50 Leo RAMMERSTORFER / AUT / LIQUI MOLY Husqvarna Intact GP Junior Team / Husqvarna / +29.759
NC #78 Jakob ROSENTHALER / AUT / LIQUI MOLY Husqvarna Intact GP Junior Team / Husqvarna
NC #27 Rico SALMELA / FIN / LIQUI MOLY Husqvarna Intact GP Junior Team / Husqvarna
FIM JuniorGP™ World Championship Standing:
1 Jesus RIOS / SPA / KTM / 50
2 Adrían CRUCES / SPA / KTM / 31
3 Alessandro MOROSI / ITA / CFMOTO / 29
16 #78 Jakob ROSENTHALER / AUT / Husqvarna / 6
18 #50 Leo RAMMERSTORFER / AUT / Husqvarna / 4
#JuniorGP Round Misano - ETC Classification Qualifying 2 Gr. A:
1 David GONZALEZ / SPA / AC Racing Team / 1´46.282
2 Gonzalo PEREZ / SPA / Team Larresport / 1´47.017 +0.735
3 Kerman TINEZ / VEN / Mir Racing FINETWORK Team / 1´47.112 +0.830
4 #45 Alex LONGARELA / SPA / LIQUI MOLY Husqvarna Intact GP Junior Team / 1´47.202 +0.920
#JuniorGP Round Misano - ETC Classification Qualifying 2 Gr. B:
1 Marco MORELLI / ARG / MLav Racing / 1´45.379
2 Giulio PUGLIESE / ITA / Aspar Junior Team / 1´45.391 +0.012
3 Luca AGOSTINELLI / VIE / Team Echovit Pasini Racing / 1´46.268 +0.889
#JuniorGP Round Misano - ETC Race 1 (15 Laps):
1 Giulio PUGLIESE / ITA / Aspar Junior Team / 26´32.892
2 Marco MORELLI / ARG / MLav Racing / +0.009
3 David GONZALEZ / SPA / Team Larresport / +7.054
NC #45 Alex LONGARELA / SPA / LIQUI MOLY Husqvarna Intact GP Junior Team
#JuniorGP Misano - ETC Race 2 (15 Laps):
1 Marco MORELLI / ARG / MLav Racing / 26´33.422
2 David GONZALEZ / SPA / Team Larresport / +0.231
3 Leonardo ZANNI / ITA / Mir Racing FINETWORK Team / +4.769
NC #45 Alex LONGARELA / SPA / LIQUI MOLY Husqvarna Intact GP Junior Team
European Talent Cup Standing:
1 Marco MORELLI / ARG / 45
2 David GONZALEZ / SPA / 36
3 Valentín PERRONE / ARG / 26
