The Japanese rider starts P9 for Rounds 3 and 4 as Van Eerde and Aji suffer injuries during qualifying
FIM Moto3™ Junior World Championship rookie Takuma Matsuyama will once again spearhead the Junior Talent Team riders when they launch for Rounds 3 and 4 of the 2020 FIM CEV Repsol Championship, which takes place at the iconic Circuito de Jerez-Angel Nieto. Scott Ogden will also start from his highest grid slot in P12 after a great qualifying for the British rider, but there were injuries sustained by Bill Van Eerde and Mario Aji on Friday. Van Eerde is awaiting surgery after suffering a fractured left femur in Qualifying Practice 2, with Aji sustaining three metacarpal fractures in his left hand in the opening Qualifying session. Max Cook starts P19 with Tatchakorn Busari P31 as the latter continues to recover from injury.
Before his crash, Australia’s Van Eerde was set to line-up P8, which would have been the sophomore JWC rider’s best qualifying at this level. The unfortunate crash sees Van Eerde unable to ride on Saturday and Sunday, which therefore moves Matsuyama up one place from his P10 qualifying result into a P9. Matsuyama sits 11th in the Championship and will be aiming to repeat – and better – his performance in Estoril that saw him claim P9.
Ogden also has high hopes of a top 10 finish as the reigning British Talent Cup Champion launches from P12. Ogden has made great progress throughout the Jerez schedule and is sure to battle it out for his best-ever JWC finish, a similar result to his P10 last time out in Portimao will do nicely. Cook, the leading JTT rider in the Championship, will start from P19 on Saturday and Sunday in Jerez. The British rider occupies seventh in the overall standings and will be confident he can pick off the riders in front of him to try and battle it out in the lead group once more. On his first visit to the Andalucia venue, Busari is nursing an injury sustained on Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup duty. The Thai rider is fighting through the pain this weekend and will aim to do as well as possible from 31st on the grid.
The depleted JTT field will be racing at 13:00 local time (GMT+2) on Saturday afternoon, before two races at 11:00 and 14:00 get underway on Sunday. We wish Van Eerde and Aji speedy recoveries, and hope to see them back on track as soon as possible!
