The 2022 Yamaha R3 bLU cRU European Cup returns to action once again this weekend, with the 24 youngsters heading to TT Circuit Assen for round two in support of the FIM Superbike World Championship.
Last time out, the 2022 campaign got underway with a dramatic weekend at MotorLand Aragon in Spain. After flying to a dominant pole position on his first outing in the Cup, Spain’s Yeray Ruiz became this year’s first winner, holding off Brazil’s Enzo Valentim in a two-way fight for victory.
In Race 2, fellow rookie Devis Bergamini of Italy narrowly edged out his rivals in an epic battle, with the top 11 separated by less than a second.
It means that both Ruiz and Bergamini share the top spot in the riders’ standings ahead of the Dutch round, which hosted two fantastic Yamaha R3 bLU cRU European Cup races in 2021.
Both winners in Assen last year have gone on to make the step up to the FIM Supersport 300 World Championship for this season, with Humberto Maier and eventual European champion Iker Garcia Abella sharing the honours that weekend.
Of the returning youngsters, one has already experienced the podium in Assen: Slovakia’s Maxim Repak, who managed to finish just behind Garcia Abella in second in Race 2, ahead of WorldSSP300 racer Fenton Seabright.
Marc Vich was also just 0.419s adrift of the top three with a fourth in Race 1, giving this year’s entrants a good first opportunity to see how they stack up against the 2021 competition.
All 24 full-season riders will be tackling ‘The Cathedral of Speed’ this weekend, which poses very different challenges to the MotorLand Aragon circuit, with its fast and flowing 18-corner layout making it a favourite amongst riders.
We enjoyed a very special start to the 2022 Yamaha R3 bLU cRU European Cup season in Aragon, and we’re really looking forward to the second round. Aragon was new for everyone, but we have some guys here who have already raced the Assen circuit and they were very competitive. The level this year is clearly very high, so it will be interesting to see how the new riders will fair against the more experienced racers at a track we’ve been to before. It’s also exciting to see many riders from different nationalities all looking like potential race winners. We’ve had Spain and Italy on the top step so far, but the Brazilians were very impressive, as was our Indonesian rider, so it’s all to play for this weekend. Considering the cool temperatures that we usually get in Assen, there could be some surprises.
