One more girl will race at international level in 2019. While Ana Carrasco, Steffie Naud, Alexandra Pelikanova and Beatriz Neila will race in Supersport 300 World Championship and María Herrera in World Supersport, a Finnish girl will spend 2019 season in European Talent Cup, a championship for young riders which is part of FIM CEV like Moto3 Junior World Championship and Moto2 European Championship. Her name is Jenny Ruokolainen.
Born in 2002, Ruokolainen will contest the 2019 edition of European Talent Cup with Track Punk Racing team and so she will experience her first full season in an international championship. Ruokolainen started her racing career in 2012 and she immediately became Finnish Minimoto Champion. In 2013, she moved to national MiniGP Championship, where she later scored some wins and podiums in 2014. After some MiniGP time, the girl from Espoo moved to Finnish Moriwaki Cup in 2016, but unfortunately she suffered an injury following a high-speed crash. However, the crash didn’t affect Ruokolainen’s skills, as the Finn became Finnish Moriwaki Champion in both 2017 and 2018. One more highlight in her career: in 2017, after the championship win scored national Moriwaki Cup, Ruokolainen was admitted into that year’s Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup Selection Event.
At her eighth year of racing, Ruokolainen will make a huge step for her career, as she will contest an exciting and crowded championship like European Talent Cup. The ETC grid has often counted more than 50 riders in its first two seasons and it seems like we’ll see something similar in 2019. The level of European Talent Cup is very high, as even teams like Sic58 Squadra Corse, Laglisse, Estrella Galicia, Ajo Motorsport and Reale Avintia participate in it. Ruokolainen knows it very well: “I have set no goals for this season, because the competition is very hard there and it is difficult to jump straight from the Finnish series to such a high level“, said the rider to Finnish website moottoriurheilu.tv. However, Ruokolainen is ready for this new adventure: “This series is a really good place to learn and develop as a rider. The other riders are really fast and experienced, but it’s great to drive with them and try to get better“.