2024 FIM MiniGP World Final

The 2024 FIM MiniGP World Final will be the biggest yet, with 22 160cc Series and 11 190cc Series set to take part in the event. For the 160cc category, it’s the top two riders from each competition who will join the final, and for the 190cc class, it’s the top three as the category continues to grow.

The 160cc Series expands in 2024 with new series in the Baltic, China, Latin America and Philippines, with the Netherlands also returning to the competition.

The top two riders in the FIM MiniGP Series from Australia, Austria, Baltic, Canada, China, Czech Republic, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latin America, Malaysia, Netherlands, Philippines, Portugal, Qatar, Spain, the UK, and the FIM MiniCUP USA series will be invited to the final, making it 44 initial entrants for the 160cc series World Final.

The 190cc Series sees new series run in France, Germany, Indonesia and UK, with series that have run a 160cc competition eligible to add the 190cc class.

The top three riders in the FIM MiniGP Series from Australia, Austria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Spain, the UK, and the FIM MiniCUP USA comprise the 33 entrants for the 190cc World Final.

In addition, the 2023 champions of both the 160cc and 190cc categories – Qabil Ifan from Malaysia (160cc) and Alvaro Lucas from Spain (190cc) – are invited to participate in the 2024 final regardless of their Championship positions.

Since both champions are competing in the 190cc category this year, the number of riders in the World Final could increase to 35 for the class and a total of 79 overall, should neither of them finish in the top 3 of their respective championships.

With 44 finalists from the 160cc Series World Final and 33 from the 190cc Series, as well as the Champions, the World Final in Valencia will see up to 79 riders taking part – a new record!

SAVE THE DATES

The 2024 FIM MiniGP World Final takes place ahead of the Valencia GP at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo. Admin for competitors begins on Sunday 10th of November, before the first practice sessions see riders take to the kart track on Tuesday the 12th.

Qualifying will then take place on Wednesday the 13th, before all the racing action takes place on Thursday the 14th, crowning two new Champions for 2024. Check out the new schedule for the biggest World Final yet!
 

Time Schedule Valencia HERE

THE FORMAT

160cc: 22 SERIES – 44 RIDERS

For the 160cc class, there will be three groups for Free Practices: two groups of 15 riders and one group of 14 riders.

Following these sessions, the first round of qualifying (Q1) will feature the lowest ranked 18 riders from the Free Practices.

The second qualifying session (Q2) will include the second fastest 14 riders from the initial sessions plus the top four from Q1, making a total of 18 riders.

The third and final qualifying session (Q3) will consist of the top 12 riders from Free Practice along with four additional riders from Q2, totalling 16 riders.

The top 20 riders after these sessions will go directly to the Races, and the bottom 24 will go to Qualifying Race 1.

In the Qualifying Races, the first race (Qualifying Race 1) will have 24 riders, with the top two advancing into the Races. The second Qualifying Race will include the 22 remaining riders, with the winner advancing to the Races.

The Races will comprise 20 riders plus the three qualifiers from the Qualifying Races, making a total of 23 riders.

After the Races, the top 23 riders in the championship will access the Super Final Race with double points.

190cc: 11 SERIES – 33 RIDERS

For the 190cc class, Free Practices will be conducted in three groups, each containing 11 riders.

According to personal best time of all Free Practices, the combined classification will determine the riders going into each qualifying session.

The first qualifying session (Q1) will have the bottom 14 riders. The second qualifying session (Q2) will feature the second fastest 11 riders from the initial sessions and the top four from Q1, totalling 15 riders. The third qualifying session (Q3) will include the top 8 riders from Free Practices plus four additional riders from Q2, totalling 12 riders.

In the Qualifying Races, the first race will have 18 riders, with the top two advancing to the Races. The second Qualifying Race will include 16 riders, with the winner advancing to the Races.

The Races will consist of 15 riders plus the three qualifiers from the Qualifying Races, making a total of 18 riders.

After the Races, the top 18 riders in the championship will access the Super Final Race, with double points in what has so far proven the deciding showdown of the event.

Join us for live coverage of the final showdowns on the 14th of November in Valencia, the final day of a four-day 2024 FIM MiniGP World Final event opening doors and increasing access to the world’s most exciting sport.

2024 FIM MiniGP World Series Participants GUIDE

About the FIM MiniGP World Series

The FIM MiniGP World Series began in 2021 and is designed as the first step on the Road to MotoGP™. There are three types of competition in the FIM MiniGP World Series: FIM MiniGP National Cup, organised by or through one FMN (national federation); FIM MiniGP Regional Cup, organised by or through various FMNs; FIM MiniGP Continental Cup, organised by or through a CONU (continental union).  

There are two classes Series can run: the 160cc class and the 190cc class. The latter debuted in 2023 for Series that have already run a 160cc competition. Riders are aged between 10 and 14 for the 160cc class and between 12 and 16 for the 190cc class. Each Series but must have a minimum of five events comprising 10 races and the top riders in each Series will then be invited to the World Final.  

The FIM MiniGP World Final sees the top riders from each Series compete over two days in Valencia ahead of the MotoGP™ season finale. As part of the Road to MotoGP™, there are opportunities up for grabs for riders to move up and further their careers.

About the Road to MotoGP™

For more than two decades, Dorna Sports has invested in opening the doors to motorcycle racing, creating the Road to MotoGP™. Comprising initiatives all over the world providing millions of young riders the opportunity to excel, the Road to MotoGP™ is unrivalled in motorsport – opening doors, increasing access and racing towards global equality.  
 
The FIM MiniGP World Series is the first step on the Road to MotoGP™, in collaboration with the FIM and motorcycle federations and unions around the world. It’s the first global initiative in motorsport aimed at creating grassroots equality.

Superbike Preview: Young carries championship lead into round two at Grand Bend

Hamilton, ON – The second round of the Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship will roll onto beautiful Lake Huron this weekend, as Ben Young looks to extend his early advantage in the feature Superbike class at the Grand Bend Motorplex, June 7-9, presented by Southwest Marine & Powersport.

The three-time Canada Cup champion and two-time defending title winner showed just why he owns the #1 plate at the Shannonville opener, conquering both races and turning in an especially dominant showing in race two to open up a ten-point gap atop the GP Bikes Pro Superbike standings.  

Young was certainly tested in race one, dropping back as low as fourth before having to claw his way through on rivals Trevor Dion, Jordan Szoke, and finally Sam Guerin, but his race two victory was a much bigger statement as he cruised to a comfortable 17-second win.

Looking at Young’s history around Grand Bend, it’s hard not to expect more of the same this weekend.

The Van Dolder’s Home Team BMW rider nearly scored his first career CSBK victory at the circuit, finishing second to Szoke in a nail-biter in 2018 before taking his maiden win later that year, and he has been virtually unbeatable at the circuit ever since with three wins in the last four races at Grand Bend.

As if that isn’t an impressive enough streak in itself, Young’s only loss over that span came in a wet race two last season after he crashed on the warmup lap, allowing rival Alex Dumas to end his run of success at the venue.

Bad luck aside, Young won’t have to deal with Dumas this time around, putting a big ask on the likes of Szoke, Guerin, and Dion, amongst others.

Should any misfortune come back around for the reigning champ, however, Szoke could be the one most prepared to return to the top step of the box. 

The 14-time champion admittedly hasn’t been as strong around Grand Bend as nearly every other track in his career, but he is still a former winner at the circuit and has looked rejuvenated in 2024, showing signs of his old self aboard the CKM Kawasaki as he continues to recover from his 2022 injuries.

Guerin, meanwhile, could be in for a crucial weekend as he enters as the closest challenger to Young behind a pair of runner-up finishes in the opener. 

The EFC Group BMW star has been solid but unspectacular in his career at Grand Bend, finishing inside the top-five in all four appearances but taking only a single podium (third) in race two last season. However, Guerin did look like a stronger version of himself than ever before at round one, something that will be put to the test in round two as he tries to keep his title hopes in good shape.

As for Szoke’s former teammate Dion, the local rider left SMP with a warning shot to his competitors, saying he’s “looking forward to being on top” in Grand Bend, and it may not be far-fetched to think he can back it up this weekend.

The Economy Lube Ducati star has had his fair share of technical struggles aboard the V4R Panigale – to the point where he was forced to jump aboard a BMW in race two at Shannonville – but he is a former pole-sitter at Grand Bend and knows the track well from his days with the SOAR regional series.

Dion won’t be the only local star to contend with, however, as David MacKay will put his extensive track knowledge to good use in his second weekend aboard the ODH Snow City Cycle Honda.

The reigning Pro Sport Bike champion has more laps around Grand Bend than anyone else on the grid, and while only some of them have come aboard the new machine, his performances at Shannonville proved he won’t need much of a teething period. 

There’s a strong chance MacKay won’t be the only frontrunning Honda either, as fellow SOAR regular Chris Pletsch is expected to make a return appearance after a spectacular one-off at his home track last season.

Pletsch made his national Superbike debut and was an instant contender, qualifying second to Young and finishing second in race two aboard his Stratford Cycle Centre Honda, and there’s little reason to doubt he can be back in the podium mix this weekend.

Like MacKay, another former Sport Bike champion will enter the Motorplex with bigger expectations, as Sebastien Tremblay will hope to replicate his strong opener for Turcotte Performance Suzuki.

Tremblay is at a slight disadvantage aboard his lesser-powered GSX-R750, the same machine he pilots in the Sport Bike ranks, but that should have less of an impact around the tight, narrow first half of the Grand Bend layout as he tries to pick up valuable points for Suzuki.

The two weeks of rest after round one will be a welcome boost for rookie Connor Campbell, after fighting through rib injuries to take a pair of top-ten finishes at Shannonville.

The B&T MacFarlane/Kubota Kawasaki rider dealt with injury and mechanical issues as a Sport Bike rider at Grand Bend last season, but will hope for a healthier return in 2024 as he tries to extend his lead in the Brooklin Cycle Racing Pro Rookie of the Year award standings.

Campbell’s form could also be crucial for Kawasaki in the Constructors Standings, as he and “satellite teammate” Szoke look to trim their 42-point deficit to BMW in round two.

A perfect weekend for Young and Guerin (taking the maximum 45 points in each race) has already put the pressure on Kawasaki and the rest of the field, and a repeat performance for the pair could see them extend an insurmountable gap by round three.

Kawasaki will be equally as vulnerable to Ducati, Honda, and Yamaha behind them, however, especially with Honda receiving some vital reinforcements in the form of Pletsch.

The weekend schedule for the GP Bikes Pro Superbike class, as well as the other six national classes, can be found on the series’ official website.

Sport Bike Preview: Tremblay the major favourite at Grand Bend as Young bows out

Hamilton, ON – The second round of the Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship will represent a major opportunity for Sebastien Tremblay, as he will head to the Grand Bend Motorplex without having to face his major rival in the Economy Lube Pro Sport Bike class when it kicks off June 7-9, presented by Southwest Marine & Powersport.

Tremblay enters round two as the Sport Bike championship leader following a crucial win in race two at Shannonville, having come out on top of a thrilling battle with Ben Young after the latter was victorious in race one.

However, Tremblay’s win was aided by a costly mechanical issue behind him, as Young encountered rad hose troubles on the penultimate lap which caused his crash out of second place, opening up an early advantage for Tremblay in the title fight.

Now, that slight gap has the potential to be completely blown open, as Young has confirmed he will not have his Scot-Build Suzuki ready for round two, choosing to focus on his Superbike campaign and title defence.

While Tremblay would have had a strong case to be the weekend favourite anyways – having proved in race two that he is more than capable of going toe-to-toe with the three-time Canada Cup champion – his odds will surely be increased by not having to fight Young on Saturday and Sunday.

That will be a slight bit of relief for Tremblay, who hasn’t always had the best luck at Grand Bend despite strong pace. The Turcotte Performance Suzuki rider was infamously taken out of the lead in 2019 and left with a broken collarbone, while his return last year brought another crash in a wet Superbike race.

However, the 2021 champion will also remind everyone that he escaped with a pair of second place finishes at Grand Bend in his return to the Sport Bike class last season, losing out only to home favourite and eventual champion David MacKay.

Tremblay won’t have MacKay to contend with this time, either, but that won’t mean he has a shortage of other contenders to go up against this time around.

Tops amongst them are the second and fourth-placed riders in the championship, Elliot Vieira and John Laing, who each turned in very respectable weekends at the Shannonville opener and will look to build upon it in Grand Bend.

Vieira was especially strong at the Motorplex last season, finishing fifth in race one (his season debut after missing the opener) before charging to third in race two aboard his GP Bikes Ducati.

In fact, that third-place finish for Vieira came just 0.969 seconds behind Tremblay as part of a spirited last-lap battle, one that will remind both riders what Vieira is capable of in round two and at virtually every track moving forward.

As for Laing, the Cochrane, AB native had a far less enjoyable time in his first trip to the circuit, though he still escaped with strong finishes of seventh and ninth. While a repeat of that won’t be good enough to keep his title hopes alive in 2024, Laing did prove at SMP that he is now a better rider than the already stellar version seen in 2023.

That should give the Vass Performance Kawasaki competitor some reinforcement as he enters round two, especially having tested at Grand Bend in recent weeks and running competitive times compared to the local SOAR regional riders. 

Those regional specialists will once again prove to be a major X-factor at the venue, as Grand Bend – more than any other circuit – is known for having its SOAR stars produce strong national results at their home track.

Amongst those names to watch will be the trio of Nathan Playford, Zoltan Frast, and Sebastian Hothaza, who have all proven to be very fast at Grand Bend in recent history.

Frast was the one to beat in the regional Pro 600 race last weekend (the equivalent to Pro Sport Bike), escaping with a six-second victory over Hothaza aboard his Clare’s Cycle Kawasaki. Frast took solid finishes of eighth and seventh in round one, but could be on course for a first career national podium at Grand Bend after taking a best finish of fourth in race one a year ago.

As for Hothaza, the KSR Yamaha rider earned a career-best sixth in race one last season, and his regional pace suggests he will likely be in the same range as he eyes a top-five result in round two. 

Playford, meanwhile, turned plenty of heads on day one at SMP when he qualified fourth and just marginally off the front row, but the Playford Company Ducati rider could only convert that into a pair of sixth-place finishes – something he will look to better or at least replicate in his return to Grand Bend.

Should any of the “locals” falter in the national spotlight, however, there will be a pair of young rivals ready to pick up the pieces in their first pro trips to the Motorplex. 

Sixteen-year-old phenom Philip Degama-Blanchet first put himself on the CSBK radar last season with finishes of fourth and third at Grand Bend, the latter being his first of five amateur podiums, and his fourth-place finish as a pro at SMP proved that there won’t be many growing pains for him against top-flight competition.

The same goes for 19-year-old Mavrick Cyr, who was the double-amateur champion from a year ago and won both races at Grand Bend. The Rizzin Racing Triumph rider is fresh off a heated duel with Degama-Blanchet in round one but was no easy task to beat himself, taking fifth place finishes in both contests.

The absence of Young will represent a massive loss for Suzuki in the inaugural Sport Bike Constructors Championship, having extended a 20-point advantage over Ducati in round one thanks in large part to his and Tremblay’s efforts.

Now, the duo of Vieira and Playford – as well as the potential return of veteran Louie Raffa from injury – could be enough to swing the title fight in Ducati’s favour, though Kawasaki also lurks just another five points back thanks to Laing and Degama-Blanchet.

The full schedule for the Economy Lube Pro Sport Bike class – as well as the six other national classes – can be found on the series’ official website.