The Japanese rider Yuki Kunii wins by a whisker over Can Öncü and Adrian Carrasco, both on the podium after a hard-fought race.
The second rround of the season for the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup has been particularly intense: the return at the Mugello Circuit gave us an exciting race, eventually won by Yuki Kunii who managed to gain the highest step on the podium at his first Cup. Can Öncü (not in his best shape) and Adrian Carrasco step on the podium too. The Italian riders finished the race far down in the ranking: Matteo Patacca 17th, and Pasquale Alfano 18th.
All sort of things happened right after the beginning of the race, with the ranking completely transformed after a few turns and poleman Kawakami trying to keep his 3rd place, behind Salac and Can Öncü, who managed to kick off from the 2nd position on the starting grid despite an injured knee. Right from the start, we witnessed a huge number of duels among the riders of the leading group. Among them, there was also the Indonesian rider Gerry Salim, who kicked off from the front row but had to withdraw from the race 12 laps before the end. Sasha de Vits got a penalty for a jump start and had to do a ride through, while Max Cook fell, closing his Mugello race with 0 points just after winning the last race in the British Talent Cup.
None of the young riders on track saved their energies during this one-time race at Mugello Circuit, giving us a great show with many overtaking that lasted all through the race and up until the chequered flag. At the finish line there were 13 riders fighting for the victory: eventually, Yuki Kunii got the better of them all and won the first step on the podium. Just behind him there were Can Öncü and Adrian Carrasco. Carlos Tata finished the race with a 4th place, followed by Xavier Artigas and Deniz Öncü; while Adrian Huertas arrived 7th ahead of Meikon Kawakami, with Ryusei Yamanaka and Filip Salac closing the top ten. All the Italian riders ended the race in low positions of the final ranking: Matteo Patacca 17th ahead of Pasquale Alfano, who started from the last position on the starting grid.
The ranking
