Recap Andrea Benvenuti's Junior debut

The introduction of the S Junior class is a clear sign of wanting to secure a future for Supermoto, nurturing young riders from their first steps. Over time, there has been a progressive increase in the number of riders on the starting grids, which has begun to attract the attention of teams competing in the classic Supermoto categories.

Among these, FRT Racing 2 was one of the first to believe in the preparatory category, fielding Andrea Benvenuti in the last race of 2020, and then finalizing the agreement for the entire 2021 championship.

Being the debut season, the main goal was to learn a bit of everything, although, being competitions, competitiveness remains a predominant component. And in the opening race in Ortona, Andrea started strong, bringing the bike to the finish line in both heats and getting to know his opponents and the competition.

The second event was in Ottobiano, where Benvenuti showed that he had learned the lesson rather well, achieving a sixth and a seventh place, although the gap to the leading group was still quite significant.

In Viterbo, however, there was a small step backward in terms of results, with the gaps, on the other hand, starting to be less evident, but all in all, always finishing pays off greatly in terms of points.

The next race was in Pomposa, where things seemed to go well in practice, and the race results were similar to the previous ones. It became clear that consistency is one of Andrea's best qualities, always able to bring the bike to the finish line.

At the Sagittario circuit in Latina, there were two spectacular races, proving that young riders also deserve to be followed. Andrea achieved two more checkered flags with two eighth places, adding more points to his overall standing, which saw him steadily climb positions.

The last 4 heats were scheduled for Castelletto di Branduzzo, and in dry conditions, Andrea demonstrated all the progress he had made by achieving his best qualifying result of the season. Saturday's races saw Andrea repeat his sixth-place finish from Ottobiano, but this time the gap to the winner was significantly smaller, a tangible sign of the growth achieved during the season.

On Sunday, the weather complicated things, and despite a fall on a wet track in race 1, the young rider from Romagna brought his KTM to the finish line in both heats, accumulating the necessary points to conclude the season with a very well-deserved fourth place overall.

A more than positive season then, and excellent prospects for the next, when Andrea will face the championship with the valuable experience gained this year.

Photos and text by Marco Rimondi