MotoGP Feature Article: 2021 Rookies
Your 2021 MotoGP rookies are coming and they’re not taking any prisoners.
Firstly, we need to congratulate Ducati who have pulled off a blinder, signing the three 2021 MotoGP rookies including the Moto2 World Champion and runner up, outstanding work by the Italians to pick up some of the hottest names in Moto2 of 2020.
Enea Bastianini 
Enea Bastianini finally gets what he deserves, a World Championship. Bastianini is an absolutely unbelievably huge talent, there aren’t many riders who are as good as him and he is proving this race by race, he has finished in the top 10 for every single season in the Moto3 and Moto2 championships he has raced since joining the world championship, taking a P3 overall in Moto3 in just his second season before a P2 the year after; some bad luck and tough seasons meant he wasn’t able to reach this form again in Moto3, despite racing for some of the strongest teams such as Gresini (2018 champions), Estrella Galicia (2014 Champions) and Leopard Racing (2015, 2017 and 2019 champions). He moved to Moto2 for 2019 with the Italtrans team, leaving Moto3 with a crazy 3 wins and 24 podiums to his name.
Enea has always been there but not had enough to take the title until now, he had a very good 2019 rookie season in arguably the toughest class in racing, taking a podium as a rookie before stepping up his game 10 fold to take the 2020 Moto2 World Championship, he had an outstanding season with only 1 DNF all year long, taking a massive 7 podiums in 15 races and 3 race wins in this crazy season, only finishing outside of the top 10 once, his consistency was the best of the best and was rewarded greatly. He moves to the Avintia team for 2021 replacing Johann Zarco with Ducati support.
Luca Marini
We aren’t going to say it, we all know who Luca Marini’s half brother is, this should not define him, he has racing in his blood and that is a fact, he is very fast. Luca Marini steps to MotoGP for 2021 with the Avinita team, running different colours to teammate Bastianini with Marini continuing in the Sky VR46 Team as they withdraw their Moto3 efforts to focus on MotoGP under the team and guise of Valentino Rossi who is the team owner, Marini also being part of the VR46 riders academy.
He has had a slow but impressive rise in Moto2, it’s hard to forget he has been in the class for 5 whole seasons, making steady progress each year with 2020 being his best season yet, Marini finished the season as the Moto2 runner up behind Bastinaini, taking 3 wins and 6 podiums, majorly dominating in the first half of the season before a horrific crash at Le Mans derailed his title charge, still racing the day after the crash taking P17 in the race, he wasn’t the same rider after the crash and this could have cost him the title.
All we know is that Marini comes into the class with Ducati support and will not be slow.
Jorge Martin
You have to feel sorry for Jorge Martin you really do, he was having a really impressive season up to the Misano doubleheader, he was tied second overall in the standings with Bastianini, the pair only 7 points behind Luca Marini who led the championship, however, Martin was forced to miss both Misano races after a positive COVID-19 test. Costing him a potential 50 championship points.
Martin is another one of those riders who bleeds talent, he has speed running through his veins and it incredibly impressive on a motorcycle, he is an ex-Red Bull Rookies Champion and also the 2018 Moto3 World Champion, winning the title with Gresini and is another rider who has only spent seasons in Moto2 and has impressed completely in the class. In Moto3 Martin was able to take a podium on the ‘career-ending’ Mahindra ‘thing’ which was completely uncompetitive for the most part bar a few impressive podiums and wins, then as soon as he was on a Honda, he was winning races and then a title.
He moved to the Red Bull KTM Ajo team for 2019 and 2020, riding the KTM chassis for 2019 which was also massively uncompetitive given that the chassis and new Triumph engine were not the best matches for one another, ruining the championship of Brad Binder who most likely would’ve won the title if KTM didn’t have their problems, this didn’t stop Martin from taking 2 podiums on it though. In 2020 he moved to Kalex chassis following KTM’s departure from Moto2 to focus on their MotoGP project, Martin was instantly fast, running in P2 at Qatar before having issues forcing him down to P20 overall.
In the 2020 season, Martin racked up an impressive 2 wins and 6 podiums and moves to the Pramac squad for 2021 and will have Johann Zarco as a teammate.
Featured images – Italtrans Racing/MotoGP.com
