About

About

In 2022, Honda British Talent Cup enters its fifth year of competition and its second season as the sole British Moto3™ class. A Cup for riders and teams, competitors are between 13 and 17 and race around the UK, alongside the British Superbike Championship and the FIM MotoGP™ World Championship. Each BTC round comprises two races, with the points system mirroring that of MotoGP™.

2022 is a nine-round, 18-race season, with eight rounds alongside BSB and a season highlight alongside MotoGP™ at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix.

Two pre-season tests, one at the end of March and one in early April, give the field chance to get in gear before the season opener at the Silverstone national layout. The Cup then heads for Oulton Park and Donington before going north to Knockhill for Round 4. Brands Hatch then welcomes back the Cup ahead of the British GP, before the field takes on Thruxton and Snetterton 300. The finale takes place on the Grand Prix layout at Donington Park, with the season coming to an end in early October.

Each season there is the opportunity for promotion on the Road to MotoGP™. The championship into which the selected rider will be promoted will now depend on the level and potential of the chosen rider each season. Dorna and MSVR study the BTC field throughout the year and make this decision in order to provide the opportunity that is the best fit for the chosen rider to keep progressing and learning on the Road to MotoGP™. The options will be either the Hawkers European Talent Cup, Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup or FIM Moto3™ Junior World Championship.

Former BTC riders have already joined the Junior Talent Team and graduated to other teams in the FIM JuniorGP™ paddock. 2019 BTC Champion Scott Ogden took that path and he now lines up full-time in the Moto3™ World Championship in 2022 alongside fellow BTC alumnus Josh Whatley. 2021 BTC Champion Casey O’Gorman was the selected rider last season and the first to be placed into the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup, where he races in 2022.

The Series

The Honda British Talent Cup was conceived by Dorna, the organiser of the MotoGP™ World Championship, the FIM JuniorGP™ World Championship, the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship, the FIM Enel MotoE™ World Cup, the Idemitsu Asia Talent Cup and the Northern Talent Cup, as well as co-organiser of the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup.

The BTC provides an opportunity for the most talented young riders in the British Isles to race and learn on the Road to MotoGP™. The Cup began in 2018 as a competition for riders - not teams - and was raced on identical, British Talent Cup-liveried Honda NSF250R machinery alongside BSB, WorldSBK and MotoGP™ events. From 2020, an agreement reached between Dorna and British Championship promoter and organiser MotorSport Vision Racing (MSVR) saw the Cup expand and become the sole British Moto3™ class.

Both riders and teams can now enter the BTC in a traditional manner, and the blueprint for the regulations is the Dorna-promoted European Talent Cup within the FIM JuniorGP™ World Championship, which specifies the exclusive use of an essentially standard specification Honda NSF250R motorcycle. Dorna remain hands-on at all events with rider coaching support in order to assess the stars of tomorrow.