Watch Video5 min
Red Bull Rookies Cup

RECAP | Collin Veijer takes Rookies Race 2 Portimão win from José Rueda

Dutch 17-year-old Collin Veijer won a thrilling 16 lap Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup race at Portimão
Written by Peter Clifford
3 min readPublished on
Intense action from first lap to last saw Dutch 17-year-old Collin Veijer win a thrilling 16 lap Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup race at Portimão. Saturday's winner José Rueda crossed the line first but the 16-year-old Spaniard had exceeded track limits at the final turn and was therefore docked a place.
Casey O'Gorman added 3rd to his 2nd from the day before and the 14-year-old Irishman only lost the win by 0.004 seconds.
The 7 KTM RC 250 R battle for the lead left 15-year-old Australian Harrison Voight a little frustrated with 4th again and Rico Salmela, the diminutive 14-year-old Fin put in a storming ride to take 5th ahead of Tatchakorn Buasri, the 21-year-old Thai who did a good bit of the leading. Gabin Planques, the 17-year-old Frenchman completed the lead pack.

Watch the Live Recap of Race 2 in Portugal 2022

Race 2 – Portimão

Watch race 2 of the Red Bull MotoGP™ Rookies Cup 2022 from the 4,692km Portimão Circuit, Portugal.

Veijer didn't know

“I didn't see him actually going on the green but I saw he was quite on the limit. Out of the last corner Casey passed me a little bit and then I got José's slipstream and got back ahead of him.”
“I didn't know I had won but I could see that the big screen was showing me riding around and I wondered,” he laughed. “I'm so happy for this.”
“My bike had a broken clutch before the start and I had to use the spare bike. The front felt a bit different and I couldn't brake as hard or as late as I would on my bike so I had to compensate.”
All race I knew I had to stay at the front and not let José get away like he did yesterday and finally I won.
#95 COLLIN VEIJER
Collin Veijer is the happy winner of Race 2 in Portugal 2022

Collin Veijer is the happy winner of Race 2 in Portugal 2022

© Gold & Goose/Red Bull Content Pool

Rueda rode the edge

“I'm very happy to be on the podium again. I pushed really hard on the last lap to try and get a gap. I knew I was on the edge of the track but I thought I had managed to stay off the green. That's a shame but that is how it is and I am happy to be leading the championship.”
“It was a harder race than yesterday, I couldn't get away. The bike was handling well I loved riding it, it just didn't seem quite as quick, I couldn't break away.”
Still it was a very good race, a lot of close battles and I am happy to be on the podium again.
#99 JOSE RUEDA

Casey again

“It's my first time here and I was expecting to do OK but 2 podiums is amazing. This race was so much harder than yesterday, the group was bigger and we were fighting for first, yesterday we weren't. That made it more valuable.”
“On the last corner I got Collin back and then he got me again just before the line but it was good. The bike was great again, I really enjoyed it.”
Collin

Collin

© G&G

Gabin Planques racing in Portimão - Race 2 - Portugal 2022

Gabin Planques racing in Portimão - Race 2 - Portugal 2022

© Gold & Goose/Red Bull Content Pool

Jose Rueda leading Race 2 in Portimão 2022

Jose Rueda leading Race 2 in Portimão 2022

© Gold & Goose/Red Bull Content Pool

Casey O'Gorman in battle with Rueda and Veijer - Race 2 Portimão 2022

Casey O'Gorman in battle with Rueda and Veijer - Race 2 Portimão 2022

© Gold & Goose/Red Bull Content Pool

The Rookies train in Portugal 2022

© Gold & Goose/Red Bull Content Pool

Lorenz Luciano followed by Marcos Ruda - Portugal 2022

© Gold & Goose/Red Bull Content Pool

Tatchakorn Buasri leading Race 2 in Portugal 2022

© Gold & Goose/Red Bull Content Pool

Red Bull Rookies Cup - Race 2 Portimão 2022

© Gold & Goose/Red Bull Content Pool

Tatchakorn Buasri leading Race 2 in Portimão 2022

© Gold & Goose/Red Bull Content Pool

Top 3 Portimão Race 2 - José RUEDA | Collin VEIJER | Casey O'GORMAN - 2022

© Gold & Goose/Red Bull Content Pool

Harrison wanted more

“Not really happy with that. I wanted the the podium. I pushed so hard and it was a clean race until the last two laps and I didn't like those so much. Every time I saw 99 go to the front I knew I had to go with him.”
And that 4th to 1st move. “I don't know I was just going for it. It was a good race.”

Buasri pushed to much

“Today I am a little bit happy and a little bit sad. I was having a good race but in the last few laps I just made too many mistakes, trying too hard and so I wasn't on the podium.”

Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup 2022 - Portimão Race 2 Result Overview

POS

#

NAME

NAT

TIME

KM/H

GAP

1

95

Collin VEIJER

NED

30'18.464

145.4

2

99

Jose RUEDA

SPA

30'18.358

145.4

-0.000

3

67

Casey O'GORMAN

IRL

30'18.468

145.4

0.004

4

29

Harrison VOIGHT

AUS

30'18.754

145.4

0.290

5

27

Rico SALMELA

FIN

30'18.798

145.4

0.334

6

5

Tatchakorn BUASRI

THA

30'19.643

145.3

1.179

7

48

Gabin PLANQUES

FRA

30'19.774

145.3

1.310

8

28

Maximo QUILES

SPA

30'26.387

144.8

7.923

9

8

Eddie O'SHEA

GBR

30'26.421

144.8

7.957

10

58

Luca LUNETTA

ITA

30'26.428

144.8

7.964

11

78

Jakob ROSENTHALER

AUT

30'26.655

144.7

8.191

12

57

Danial SHAHRIL

MAL

30'26.726

144.7

8.262

13

11

Ruche MOODLEY

RSA

30'27.419

144.7

8.955

14

81

Lorenz LUCIANO

BEL

30'27.779

144.7

9.315

15

69

Marcos RUDA

SPA

30'32.951

144.5

14.487

16

42

Soma GÖRBE

HUN

30'38.805

143.8

20.341

17

9

Freddie HEINRICH

GER

30'38.870

143.8

20.406

18

93

Arbi ADITAMA

INA

30'39.553

143.7

21.089

19

55

Alex VENTURINI

ITA

30'48.954

143.0

30.490

20

21

Demis MIHAILA

ITA

30'49.032

143.0

30.568

21

10

Guillermo MORENO

MEX

30'54.300

142.6

35.836

DNF

2

Amaury MIZERA

FRA

11'37.159

142.2

10 laps

DNF

12

Jacob ROULSTONE

AUS

1'58.561

139.4

15 laps

Complete Race 2 Data - CLICK HERE
Eddie O'Shea in front during Race 2 - Portugal 2022

Eddie O'Shea in front during Race 2 - Portugal 2022

© Gold & Goose/Red Bull Content Pool

More Stories