Moto3: 2022 rookie profile – Taiyo Furusato
Japanese rider Taiyo Furusato has been fast-tracked to the World Championship following a stunning 2021 season.
Moto3 rookie Taiyo Furusato enters the Moto3 World Championship following a perfect Asia Talent Cup season and an impressive Red Bull Rookies campaign as a rookie who joined the series late into the year.
Furusato has spent most of his career racing in Japan within their All Japan Road Race Championship and the Suzuka Sunday Road Race Championship, these series’ would gain him time and experience racing on Japanese tracks, however he knew that if he wanted to make it into the big leagues he needed to start to race outside of Asia.
Furusato on his way to the Asia Talent Cup title this year.
The Asia Talent Cup was the perfect series to grow his talent on tracks he was unfamiliar with, unfortunately with COVID-19 putting a stop to the 2020 season after two races in Qatar he missed out on the opportunity to race in Thailand and Malaysia but got some seat time and a rookie podium in Qatar in 2020.
2021 was the best year the youngster could have ever wished for as he won all seven races in this years Asia Talent Cup championship giving him a perfect score of 175 points, the season wasn’t varied at all due to COVID and there would be three rounds hosted in Qatar before a 7 month wait for the last rounds in the new Mandalika circuit in Indonesia, therefore the decision was made by Dorna to allow him to enter the Red Bull Rookies mid-season to give him more track time and also to help him learn the European Circuits given that the next logical step for his career at the time was to race in the Asia Talent Team in the JuniorGP Moto3 World Championship.
He made his rookies cup debut at Mugello and stunned everyone, he’d never raced at the circuit before in his life and somehow took home victory on debut ahead of David Muñoz, an unheard-of feat in the world of the Red Bull Rookies, this automatically sent alarm bells ringing throughout the paddock, this speedy youngster was writing headlines across the globe about his talent and skills aboard a Moto3 machine.
Diogo Moreira and Taiyo Furusato battling for the victory at Mugello, Moreira would eventually lose a position due to track limits, finishing third.
He continued in the rookies for the rest of the year which gave him the chance to learn circuits such as Sachsenring, Austria and Aragon, he finished within the top 10 for nearly every race after his victory and came home in P11 in the championship after missing the opening four races.
The decision to move him to the World Championship for 2022 is a surprising one. The chance to race in both the JuniorGP Moto3 World Championship and the Red Bull Rookies series this year would have armed him with enough knowledge to compete against the best riders in the world in 2023, successive to a year of learning how to beat the top European riders who are known to be a lot more aggressive compared to their Asian counterparts.
Despite this move which could be seen as a year too early, there’s no doubt this young Japanese sensation is going to be one to watch.
Featured images – Gold & Goose – Red Bull Content Pool
Asia Talent Cup
