2026 Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup Selection Event
A field of 127 young riders representing 45 nations has been invited to the 2026 Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup Selection Event, which gets underway in Guadix, Spain, on Monday.
The annual selection event brings together promising young racers from around the world as Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup organisers assess the next wave of talent looking to progress further along the Grand Prix pathway.
There is a strong Australian connection among the 2026 invitees. Levi Russo is listed under Australia, while Australian-Thai youngster Teerin Fleming is entered under Thailand.
Judd Plaisted also appears on the official Australian invite list, although the youngster has elected not to participate in this year’s selection event.
Plaisted elects to stay focused on Moto4 Asia
Plaisted’s family confirmed on the eve of the event that they made the decision with his management agency as part of a longer-term development plan.
The Guadix selection event also clashes with this week’s Idemitsu Moto4 Asia Cup action at Mandalika, and attending the Spanish selection would have cost Plaisted valuable track time in the Asian championship.
“Judd is still very young, and we believe you can’t skip steps in this sport, so we are taking the next 12 months to build the right foundations, For now, it’s about putting in the work and continuing to build.”
Plaisted has been one of the Australians making progress through the Idemitsu Moto4 Asia Cup in 2026, and his decision means his immediate focus remains on continuing that development rather than attempting to accelerate the next step.
Fleming is another rider familiar to Moto4 Asia followers. Although officially nominated under Thailand on the Red Bull Rookies Cup list, Fleming also has Australian nationality and has been part of the Australian contingent we have followed through the Asian series this season.
A global field heads to Guadix
The scale of the selection process is underlined by the geographical spread of the 127-rider entry. Riders have been called from Europe, Asia, the Americas, Africa and Oceania, with Spain, France, Italy, the United Kingdom and Poland among the more heavily represented nations.
Invitees also come from countries much less commonly represented on the international motorcycle racing ladder, including Palestine, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Nicaragua, Ecuador and the Dominican Republic.
The Selection Event has long been a key gateway into the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup, where young riders race on equal machinery and in front of the Grand Prix paddock as they take another step toward the Moto3 World Championship and beyond.
2026 Red Bull Rookies Cup Selection Event
Invited Riders
| Country | Riders |
| Australia | Judd Plaisted* Levi Russo |
| Thailand / Australia | Teerin Fleming** |
| Argentina | Bautista Farias Santiago Gossa |
| Austria | Tobias Kitzbichler Paul Linsbichler |
| Belgium | Tom Rolin |
| Brazil | Aymon Bocanegra Boone Murilo Gomes Silva Leonardo Marques Barbim Mário Salles Neto Daniel von Zeschau Tomelin |
| Bulgaria | Nikola Nikolaev |
| Canada | Lachlan Alexander Eric Sergi |
| Chile | Cristóbal Carreño |
| Colombia | Tomas Escobar Jhon Alexander Lopez Castañeda |
| Czech Republic | Viktor Čech Roman Durdis Jonathan Garness-Kuzel Adam Vyskocil |
| Denmark | Nicolas Romeral Grotkopp |
| Dominican Republic | Xarly Mendez de Oleo |
| Ecuador | Alberto Enriquez |
| Finland | Domi Pekkanen |
| France | Marc-Antoine Audard Enzo Bellon Evan Boxenberger Johann Dubois Swan Emprin Nolann Macary Antoine Nativi Esteban Neil Gabriel Pio Jimmy Primaut Remy Sanjuan |
| Germany | Smilla Göttlich Anina Urlass Thias Wenzel |
| Hong Kong, China | Wen-Ze Zhong |
| Hungary | Tamas Lukacs |
| India | Poojita Anil Kumar Rehbar Baktoo Johann Emmanuel Rakshith Srihari Dave |
| Ireland | Tobias Mayer |
| Israel | Omri Chen |
| Italy | Leonardo Casadei Vincenzo Di Veroli Lorenzo Fino Elisabetta Monti Lorenzo Pritelli Luca Rizzi Edoardo Savino Mathias Tamburini Simone Vianello |
| Japan | Shingo Iidaka Riichi Takahira |
| Kenya | Nathaniel Cohen |
| Malaysia | Qabil Irfan |
| Mexico | Santiago Vega Izquierdo |
| Netherlands | Quinn de Joode Luuk de Vries Milan Hunneman Mick Koomen |
| Nicaragua | Andoni Dominguez Martinez |
| Palestine | Mahdi Salem Abuawad |
| Poland | Jakub Belak Laila Bielecka Karolina Danak Sebastian Jozef Ferrucci Julia Jantarska Franciszek Stoklosa Kacper Wojcik |
| Portugal | Frederico Guimarães Tiago João Pedro Matos |
| Republic of Korea | Seong Hyeon Kim |
| Slovenia | Tian Krsevan Nejc Petric |
| South Africa | Jason Van Breda Ryan van Nieuwkerk |
| Spain | Oliver Cantos Llorca Daniel Climent Cantos Victor Cubeles Alex Debon Estornell Ignacio Galán Bermejo Andres Garcia Gonzalez David Gomez Forner Alex Longarela Montes Alvaro Lucas Esteve Eneko Osorio Marchan David Peris Bartual Alex Remesal Lomas Jose Reyes Izan Rodriguez Alvarez Iker Rodriguez Romero Eric Ruz David Sanchez Ruiz Enzo Zaragoza Benedi |
| Sri Lanka | Chenuka Caldera Kolamba Patabandige Hesali Nehansa Peiris |
| Sweden | Brayden Burke |
| Switzerland | Alessio Arnold |
| Taiwan | Pin-Hung Huang |
| Turkey | Ishak Demir Dönmez |
| USA | Nathan Bettencourt Julian Correa Nathan Gouker Mac Robert MacClugage Kensei Matsudaira Joshua Raymond Derek Sanchez Mikey Lou Sanchez Ulises Weyrauch |
| Ukraine | Oleksii Chepurny |
| United Kingdom | Jack Burrows Harrison Day Jack Dunabie Ryan Frost Marco Holt Henry McCartney Filip Surowiak |
| Venezuela | Diego Andrés González Menegollo Juan Pablo Telo Santaella |
* Judd Plaisted has confirmed he will not attend the 2026 Selection Event.
** Australian-Thai rider Teerin Fleming is listed under Thailand on the official Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup entry list.
