Veda Ega Pratama is slowly but surely knocking on the door of the European racing stage

Jakarta (ANTARA) – The young Indonesian racer Veda Ega Pratama is slowly but surely knocking on the door of the European racing level after climbing the podium for the first time in the Red Bull Rookies Cup 2024 at Red Bull Ring Circuit, Spielberg, Austria, Sunday (18/8).

Veda needed 10 races from five series to experience the Red Bull Rookies Cup, a young rider racing competition that has produced many world racers in MotoGP such as Jorge Martin, Brad Binder, Joan Mir, Enea Bastianini, and Pedro Acosta.

Veda’s podium finish was delayed in race 1, Saturday (17/8) when he crashed on the last lap while competing with a group of racers in the lead position filled with eight riders. racing.

At that point, signs that Veda’s performance would lead to a podium were already visible as his motorcycle’s pace was very good going into the last lap.

However, as he was about to enter the final corner, Veda made a mistake that put him in a position to be crushed by other racers while he was cornering.

Veda tried to avoid contact, but the aggressiveness of the young racer in the Red Bull Rookies Cup completely thwarted his efforts. He finally fell and the first podium he had been aiming for for a long time disappeared before his eyes.

The live broadcast camera caught his very disappointing body movement. He shook his head several times as if he believed that his first podium had disappeared.

“I felt in this race much better than before in Red Bull Rookies. But I was unlucky today in the last lap,” said Veda after the race.

“I tried to fight for the podium but I crashed in the second corner towards the last corner. I pushed really hard, I crushed a bit but it was also my fault because I slipped I’m too behind,” he said.

Misfortune on the first day at the Red Bull Ring let him know that his first podium in the Red Bull Rookies Cup would soon be achieved if he kept his focus and excitement to the finish line.

Competing in the Red Bull Rookies Cup requires excellent focus, composure, technique and physicality from every rider in every race. The reason is that all racers in this event have the same speed so the competition in each race is very tight.

This position means that the group of racers in the front position can be filled with five to ten racers so that any racer who makes the slightest mistake gets a big- accident, by accident or falling further back to the back.

The 15 year old racer finally improved his performance in race 2, Sunday (18/8) when the 16 lap race was held earlier than the main MotoGP race on the same circuit.

This racer from Gunungkidul, Special Region of Yogyakarta (DIY) won the third podium after making a brilliant move at the last corner when he caught Valentin Perrone.

He hit from the inside and then closed the gap.

“Yes, I am very happy today. Finally I was able to get to the podium. “Yesterday I was unlucky because I had a crash on the last lap,” said Veda.

He presented his first podium at the European Red Bull Rookies Cup racing event for Indonesia, which just celebrated its 79th anniversary of independence on Saturday (17/8).

“I brought this podium to Indonesia because yesterday was Indonesia’s Independence Day,” he said.

This third podium at the Red Bull Ring earned Veda 16 points and brought his total points to 77 points in eighth position, a 100 point difference from Alvaro Carpe who won the race twice at the Red Bull Ring at the top of the standings and 10 point difference from Malaysian racer Danish Hakim in seventh position.

Next page: Starting from the animal market area Starting from the animal market area

Veda Ega Pratama’s racing skills have been honed from a young age and the parking lot of the Animal Market in Siyono Harjo, Playen, Gunungkidul, Special Region of Yogyakarta (DIY) witnessed the racer’s 15-year struggle to experience the world of iron horse racing.

With the help of his father, Sudarmono, who was also a former national racer, Veda created the animal market field as Indonesia’s top young racer who is currently studying in Europe, in the Red Bull Rookies Cup.

After being trained by his father independently, Veda continued his racing school at the Astra Honda Racing School (AHRS) and at the age of 9, he had won the only national race Honda Dream Cup.

Veda was then introduced to the Asian Talent Cup (ATC) event in 2021 when he appeared as a wild card three times at the Pertamina Mandalika International Circuit, Central Lombok. He finished the three races in 18th, 18th and 17th position and collected 15 points.

The following year, he made a full appearance at the ATC and ended his season in third place with 141 points and finished with three wins, two of which were clean sweeps at Mandalika.

He made excellent use of his full season in 2022 to look ahead to the 2023 season, which he finished brilliantly after becoming the champion with 256 points.

At ATC 2023, in addition to winning, he also set several new records, namely the most wins with nine times from 12 races, most points surpassing Ayumu Sasaki’s record of 203 points in 2015 season, and become the youngest racer to win. the ATC at age 14.

In the same year, he honored his career in the Asia Production 250 (AP250) class of the Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC).

Missing one race, he ended his season there in third place with 160 points, behind his two teammates, Herjun Atna Firdaus and Rheza Danica Ahrens.

Next page: Veda’s journey in the Red Bull Rookies Cup Veda’s journey in the Red Bull Rookies Cup

After finishing on the Asian racing stage, Veda Ega Pratama’s 2024 racing journey continues in the European championship, the Red Bull Rookies Cup after being promoted by Dorna Sports.

The Red Bull Rookies Cup is a European racing championship that is one of the steps for racers to reach the Grand Prix level which has now produced many top racers such as Jorge Martin, Brad Binder, Joan Mir, Enea Bastianini, and Pedro Acosta.

This season, the Red Bull Rookies Cup will play seven series, starting from Jerez (April 27-28), Le Mans (May 11-12), Mugello (June 1-2), Assen (29- June 30), Spielberg (17). -18 August), Aragon (31 August-1 September), and closing at Misano (7-8 September)

Veda’s debut in the Red Bull Rookies Cup did not go smoothly after he crashed twice in race 1 at Jerez Circuit, Spain. He only scored his first points the following day in race 2 when he scored five points after finishing 11th.

In the second series at Le Mans Circuit, France, Veda improved his performance by finishing tenth in race 1 and then finishing seventh in race 2.

In the next two series in Mugello, Italy and Assen, Holland, Veda did even better. He seemed to have learned from the previous four races that he only placed seventh as his best finishing position.

In race 1 at Assen, Veda almost got her first podium. He was third with two more corners left in the race before the finish line.

However, the drama that happened when he crashed at the last corner meant that Valentin Perrone was in third place in the end.

He, who performed well throughout the race, had to settle for a fourth place finish, 0.658 seconds away from race winner Brian Uriarte who beat Rico Salmela into second place.

Veda, who honed his skills in the ARRC Supersports class (SS600) this year using a motorcycle with greater capacity, finally matured in the Red Bull Rookies Cup.

The podium he was waiting for was finally almost exactly a day after Indonesia celebrated its 79th Independence Day, Sunday (18/8), at the Red Bull Ring, in Austria.