Dominant Gunawardena brothers off to Spain

Having clinched a sequence of top-ten finishes at an Asian level in the 2016 Asian Road Racing Championship and fresh from a podium finish wildcard ride at Greater Noida F1 Circuit, Jaden and Aaron Gunawardena are set to head out to Spain this week after being invited to try out alongside some of the world’s best up-and-coming young riders for a place in the 2017 Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup championship.

It’s the tenth year of the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup, and 112 races have run so far with 41 different winners. In total, 144 riders from 30 different countries have been fortunate enough to race at some of the best Grand Prix circuits in the world, on the series’ KTMs.

Many of today’s Rookies had barely gripped a handlebar when Johann Zarco won the first cup in 2007 and since then, the 26-year-old Frenchman has added 13 Grand Prix wins to his four cup victories. He won the Moto2 World title last year, and is topping the points this season. Another star rider Brad Binder, who leads this year’s Moto3 points table is chasing a title won last year by fellow former Red Bull Rookie Danny Kent. They are just some of the successful ex-Rookies – with four active this year in Moto2 and 15 in Moto3. Those who have graduated to the GP classes have so far gained 127 podiums including 44 Grand Prix victories.

As this year’s rookies aim to follow in the footsteps of Johann Zarco, Brad Binder and the other Grand Prix-winning alumni, the next group of young riders looking for World Championship stardom is focused on the selection process leading to the 2017 Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup.

“Behind many of today’s top riders are a group of people that play a crucial role,” said proud dad Shane Gunawardena. “We have not yet secured any solid sponsorships but we have had many friends coming forward to contribute towards our journey which is on a whole new level. We are lucky that the world controlling body FIM gave Jaden and Aaron permission to participate in the Indian National Championship using their Sri Lankan licenses, and also thankful to the Indian Federation (FMSCI) for welcoming us with open arms. Red Bull Sri Lanka and India basically gave us wings to come this far and we are really looking forward to this year’s Rookies Cup as well as the Shell Advance Cup.”

Updates on the selection tour to Spain and Malaysia can be found on the Facebook page “Racing Bros – Jaden and Aaron G”.