The action started for the 2012 Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup with three days of pre season testing in Estoril. The conclusion of the 6th running of the world's GP entry series is at Motorland Aragon at the end of September

In between, 24 of the fastest teenage racers will contest a total of 15 races at 8 Grand Prix around Europe, competing on the same weekends as their Grand Prix heroes like Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa on the same circuits and with global TV coverage.

 

They represent 15 countries and all are united in the same thinking, racing as hard as they can as they develop their skills and prove themselves in front of the Grand Prix fans, teams and media and move on to World Championship success.

 

Of the 8 GPs in Jerez, Estoril, Silverstone, Assen, Sachsenring, Brno, Misano and Aragon all but one feature 2 Rookies races, the first on the GP qualifying day and the second on the race day itself. Only the Misano round has a single race on the day of GP qualifying.

 

Once again the Cup machinery is the KTM RC125, propelling the teenagers at GP speeds. Errors are serious but at least they benefit this year again from the protection of the Alpinestars race equipment. The Cup thrives from an increasingly impressive range of partners including for the first time this year, Ipone, the 100% motorcycle oil. With the top equipment and support the teenagers could not have a better springboard to a GP career. 

 

The last five years have already shown that the best of the Rookies get the chance to move on to the 125 Grand Prix category and those successful in previous seasons such as Danny Kent and Luis Salom are now established GP 125 men, joined this year by Arthur Sissis from last year's Cup. The path is clear and 23 young men and one young woman are determined to take it.