Next year, a grid of 26 talented and hopeful riders from 19 countries will compete in the 2025 Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup, which will be the 19th consecutive race season for the spec series.

Among those 26 riders, American Kristian Daniel Jr. will compete for the second year in a row. Daniel Jr., who turns 16 in February, finished just outside the top 10 in the 2024 Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup, and his best result was a fifth-place finish at Aragón.

Daniel Jr. also raced in the FIM JuniorGP European Talent Cup at Aragón, notching his best-ever qualifying result. He was fastest in his qualifying group, which put him second on the grid for Sunday’s two races, and he ultimately finished seventh in Race 1 and eighth in Race 2.

Finally, as a Moto3 wildcard entry in the Campionato Italiano Velocità (CIV) at Imola, Italy, at the end of the season, Daniel Jr. scored a podium finish with his third-place result in Race 2.

“My best race of 2024 was in Aragón,” Daniel Jr. said. “I crashed out of running in P5, which was a huge bummer but I ended up remounting in P17 and raced back up to P5 in less than 15 laps to get my first top-five result in the RBRC.

“My best moment of 2024 was when I was called back to show my skills once more in the RBRC and really show (how much) I’ve improved this year and put all my efforts into next year’s championship.”

Daniel Jr. was born in Los Angeles, California, and started riding motorcycles at age five. In 2018, at age nine, he and his family moved to Barcelona, Spain, where he started racing 110cc, four-stroke MiniGP bikes. When he was 11, Daniel Jr. raced on his first MotoGP track at Circuit Ricardo Tormo when he competed in the Cuna de Campeones Moto5 series.

Since its inception nearly 20 years ago, the Red Bull Rookies Cup has been an important part of Dorna’s Road to MotoGP™ program. How important?

Of the Red Bull Rookies who have graduated from the Cup, more than 50% have made a start in the World Championship and of those, 30% have won at least one GP race. Eleven former Red Bull Rookies have won 15 World Championships including 2024 MotoGP World Champion Jorge Martín, who was part of the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup class of 2014. Ai Ogura, Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup class of 2017, won this past season’s Moto2 title, and David Alonso, Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup class of 2021, won the 2024 Moto3 World Championship. Five of this past season’s Red Bull Rookies will race in the Moto3 World Championship led by 2024 champion Álvaro Carpe. He is joined by Valentin Perrone, Màximo Quiles, Ruche Moodley, and Guido Pini.

2025 Red Bull Rookies Cup Provisional Calendar

– TEST: March 26-27-28, Jerez, Spain
– Round 1: April 26-27, Jerez, Spain
– Round 2: May 10-11, Le Mans, France
– Round 3: June 7-8, Aragon, Spain
– Round 4: June 21-22, Mugello, Italy
– Round 5: July 12-13, Sachsenring, Germany
– Round 6: August 16-17, Spielberg, Austria
– Round 7: September 13-14, Misano, Italy