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MotoGP welcomes Talent Cup riders to 2023 Red Bull Rookies Cup

MotoGP Talent Cup Rookies

SPIELBERG, AUSTRIA - AUGUST 08: Kevin Farkas of Hungary and Northern Talent Cup leads the field during the Northern Talent Cup race 2 during the MotoGP of Styria - Race at Red Bull Ring on August 08, 2021 in Spielberg, Austria. (Photo by Mirco Lazzari gp/Getty Images)

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Four riders from the Talent Cup (TC), a collection of series designed to develop up-and-coming racers in their early and mid-teens, have been hand selected by the series to run in the 2023 Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup.

Shinya Ezawa was promoted from the Asia Talent Cup, Rhys Stephenson from the British Talent Cup, Kevin Farkas from the Northern Talent Cup, and Dodo Boggio will represent the European Talent Cup as they take their next step up the ladder.

Japanese rider Ezawa finished second to Malaysia’s Hakim Danish in the Asia TC this year in his first season. Ezawa posted victories in the opening race in Qatar and in his home GP in Motegi, Japan. Danish and Carter Thompson announced earlier in the year they will make the move up the ladder.

This year, Stephenson finished second in the British TC to Johnny Garness, who is not eligible to participate in the Rookies Cup due to age restrictions. Stephenson failed to win one of the British TC’s 16 races but sat on the pole four times.

Farkas will represent Hungary after finishing second in his division as well. Farkas scored five wins this year, including a sweep of the Assen weekend. Rossi Moor won the 2022 title.

Boggio swept the weekend at Jerez for his two European TC wins and stood on the podium twice more in 2022.

Launched in 2007, the Red Bull Rookies Cup is one of the first steps on the MotoGP ladder. Johan Zarco won the inaugural championship in this division before going on to stand on the podium 30 times in Moto2 and 15 times in the senior division. Other notable graduates from the Talent Cup series who have raced in MotoGP include Joan Mir, Brad Binder and Enea Bastianini, who won four times in 2022, most recently in the Aragon GP. Mir won the MotoGP championship in 2020

In 2022, Jose Antonio Rueda won the Red Bull Rookies Cup title with three wins to his credit. He backed that up with seven more top-fives to beat Collin Veijer by 14 points in the 14-race season.

The North America Talent Cup launched in 2022 and has not yet produced a Rookie Cup graduate. Alessandro di Mario beat Jesse Shedden by only one point in the 14-race calendar.