Red Bull Rookies Cup

How the MotoGP stars of the future are born

The Red Bull Rookies Cup is a tough one.

(Bild: Gold & Goose / Red Bull Content Pool)

The Red Bull Rookies Cup has developed into one of the most important talent incubators for the motorcycle world championship. The "Krone" visited patron Gustl Auinger in Spielberg. He is convinced that skill and brains still win out over big wallets today. 

More than a third of the regular MotoGP riders took their first steps on the motorcycle world stage here: In that tent where 26 motorcycles are lined up as Gustl Auinger receives the "crown" in Spielberg. Nine of "his boys", as he likes to call all the graduates of the Red Bull Rookies Cup, have made it to the MotoGP, including world champions such as Joan Mir and future title contenders such as Jorge Martin and Pedro Acosta. Founded in 2007, the Cup has since become one of the most important junior schools for the motorcycle world championship.

Jorge Martin once rode under the patronage of Gustl Auinger.

(Bild: Pail Sepp)

Not necessarily the fastest
"Originally, the championship was intended as preparation for the Junior World Championship, but now it has become a direct stepping stone to the Moto3 class of the World Championship," explains Auinger. The Cup is something very special: once a year, tens of talented youngsters are invited to an assessment, from which the most convincing (not necessarily always the fastest) are selected and allowed to compete on KTM motorcycles for a maximum of three years under Auinger's wing under the Red Bull umbrella - free of charge! "Although free is not quite right, because you have to pay for your own travel and accommodation on site."

In my day, you bought a racing bike and rode it. If it didn't work out, you simply sold everything and hardly lost any money.

Gustl AUINGER über die „gute, alte Zeit“

Talent pays off
"In other series, you also get everything from the team, but you have to put your money up front. And if it doesn't work, after a year you have nothing more than a few results slips with your name on them, but no more money."

Without the Cup, the current MotoGP championship standings might even look different. After all, none other than championship leader Jorge Martin earned important spurs there that he might have been denied elsewhere: "He had neither money nor contacts in the sport at the time," Auinger recalls. He then received subsequent offers via the Cup, right up to the World Cup: "He brought so much talent with him that he made it to the top even without much money."

If you're very, very, very good, you don't have to dig deep into your pockets. For those who are "only good", motorcycling will always cost something. Because there are many of them.

Gustl AUINGER über Talent im Rennsport

According to Auinger, talent alone is still enough to make it into the world championship these days: "If you are very, very, very good, you don't have to dig deep into your pockets." The Rookies Cup is now part of the global "Road to MotoGP", which aims to introduce talented riders from all over the world to MotoGP, which is dominated by the Spanish and Italians.

Eight-year-olds are allowed to compete in the MiniGP.

(Bild: Michael Jurtin Photography)

Eight-year-olds already on the bike 
Auinger is not only involved in the Rookies Cup, but also at the lowest level: the Austrian offshoot of the MiniGP, in which eight-year-olds have been allowed to gain their first experience on two-wheelers since 2022. "If you do well there, you can go to the world final, which takes place as part of the MotoGP race in Valencia. So you can make it directly under the eyes of the team bosses from the World Championship at a very early stage." Incidentally, the "MiniGP" will make a guest appearance at the Red Bull Ring Driving Center next weekend.