Moto3: How did the eight 2019 rookies go? The analysis

Eight drivers competed in the first full season in the Moto3 World Championship. From Celestino Vietti to Riccardo Rossi, we analyze the results obtained.

In the minor category of the World Championship this year we had eight "fixed" rookies (without counting any substitutions or wild cards). Let's talk about Celestino Vietti (Sky VR46), Ai Ogura (Honda Team Asia), Sergio Garcia (EG 0,0), Raul Fernandez (Angel Nieto Team), Filip Salač (PrustelGP) Tom Booth-Amos (CIP), Can Oncu (Red Bull KTM Ajo), Riccardo Rossi (KOmmerling Gresini). How did the 'new faces' of the 2019 World Championship season go? We analyze the results obtained by these pilots.

CELESTINO VIETTI: ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

We know that the best newcomer of the year is Celestino Vietti. Recall that he also played the last four races of 2018 as a substitute for the injured Bulega, too few anyway to remove him from the rookie ranking. Also on the other tracks, often unknown, ‘Celin’ asserted itself, constantly battling with much more experienced pilots. On many occasions there is no podium finish, sometimes even the victory. In 2019 he won three third places (Jerez, Barcelona, ​​Motegi) and the first world pole (Buriram). The sixth World Championship box and 135 points at the beginning are a more than enviable result. Without saying it outright, great hopes are placed in him, but not only by the Italian team: already in August, in fact, KTM had made him try the prototype of the 2020 motorcycle.

AI OGURA: YOUNG PROMISE

After four wild cards in 2018, Ai Ogura has dispute his first full season in the World Cup. We remember only one race missed, the one at Mugello, due to injuries to a hand and a foot recovered after a terrible accident at Le Mans. In addition to this, he has only another placement outside the points and three withdrawals. The other results instead show how often the pilot of Kiyose-shi (in the metropolis of Tokyo) managed to stay in the top ten, part of the constant large group of riders who were competing for the podium in the race. Among the nine results of this type stands out in particular the great second place in Aragon. Second in the ranking of rookies with 109 points, 10th in the overall standings, the young promise of the Rising Sun has earned confirmation in Honda Team Asia for the 2020 season.

SERGIO GARCIA: EXPLOIT FINALE

Vice-champion 2018 in the CEV Moto3, Sergio Garcia he was in absolute debut. His debut was delayed: in Qatar he was not yet 16 and was replaced by Yamanaka, while in Argentina he suffered a head injury during the warm up. The first part of the season was not particularly easy, even though it was growing. There are nine zeroes in the 17 races he played, most of them from Texas to San Marino. Only in Aragon comes the first top ten and from then on it will be able to almost always go to points (with the exception of Australia). The exploit arrives in Malaysia with the first podium, ending the season with the first career victory. For him 76 points and 3rd place among the rookies, but in 2020 it could be, together with the two already mentioned, another of the guys to watch.

RAUL FERNANDEZ: ALTI AND BASSI

Two seasons in the Red Bull Rookies Cup, four in the CEV Moto3, the last of which earned him the title. Raul Fernandez he arrived in the World Championship, with some wild cards / replacements active from 2016 to 2018. Angel Nieto Team, with him in the last triumphant year in the Junior World Championship, expected a lot from him. In reality, however, the Spanish experienced a year full of ups and downs. In total it boasts six top ten placements, among which the 5th place at the Sachsenring stands out, but we also count six retreats and three more zeroes. Only 60 points accumulated, plus a relationship with his team that has deteriorated more and more. Hence the decision to change air, despite having a contract with the team of Jorge Martinez also for 2020: he will play his second world season with Red Bull KTM Ajo.

FILIP SALAC: BET SNIPERS 2020

Three seasons divided between Red Bull Rookies Cup and CEV Moto3, plus a wild card at home. Filip Salač is one of the two Czech riders on which PrustelGP wanted to bet for 2019. We are talking about a rather complex debut season, with four retirements and many other points out of the points. The first top ten arrives in San Marino, when he crosses the finish line in ninth position, but the best result comes in the final Grand Prix. Fighting until the end in the leading group, Mlada Boleslav's seventeen-year-old managed to win an excellent fifth place. A good starting point for the 2020 season, the second world: Salač is the Snipers team's bet, which will line up next year alongside Arbolino.

TOM BOOTH-AMOS: FALL RECORDS

British Moto3 champion in 2017, the following year in the CEV Moto3, two wild cards always in the home GP. Tom Booth-Amos debuted with CIP-Green Power, which had focused on him next to Darryn Binder. So many difficulties for him in the saddle of the KTM RC 250 GP: seven retreats in the race, ten positions out of the points, sometimes accomplices technical problems and physical ailments. The absolute record of falls in 2019 belongs to him, 22 in total. In Barcelona comes the first points finish, a 14th place, followed in Australia by the second and final: closes the stage at Phillip Island 8th. Before the round in Thailand he had received the news that his contract with CIP would not be renewed and since then he has not found a place for next season. His name does not appear in the provisional entry list recently published.

CAN ONCU: EXPECTED MORE

We remember his terrific debut in 2018: first wild card from new champion Rookies Cup in Valencia, which was followed by the first world victory, the youngest ever. Discounted to say that with this premise a season of relief was expected from Can Oncu: Red Bull KTM Ajo was aiming strongly at him to return to compete in the upper areas of the standings. However, the reality was very different, in particular due to the many falls of which he became the protagonist (21, 2nd in the overall seasonal ranking). One of these in the FP1 at Misano brought him a broken collarbone that kept him out of play for three GPs, replaced by his twin Deniz. Closes the season with only three points finishes, twice 14th (Sachsenring-Brno) and 12th place (Valencia). We will not see him again in Moto3 next year: for him the adventure in the Supersport World Championship opens.

RICCARDO ROSSI: LAST OF THE ROOKIES

Spent in the CIV and CEV for Riccardo Rossi. In 2018 in particular he disputed the Italian championship with the team of Fausto Gresini, the same one who then decided to take him to the Moto3 World Championship. His was also a particularly complex debut year. Only three retreats for falls in the entire season, but we count many more placings out of the top 15, as many as 12 in 19 races. The first World Championship points arrive in Misano, a Grand Prix that closes in 14th place. We count the 13th position in Thailand, it is 15th in Malaysia, concludes the season in Valencia with another 14th place. It will not be at the start next year in the Moto3 World Championship: the young Genoese driver did not get the renewal from Gresini (who next to Rodrigo lines up Alcoba), nor did he find a place in other teams.