After two demanding days of testing at Paul Ricard in the South of France, twelve young riders are being invited to join the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup in 2008.

It becomes a truly global series with riders from Australia, Africa and Japan joining the challenge to find future World Champions from a total of sixteen nationalities.

The conditions were very tough indeed especially on the first day. With rain showers sweeping across the Paul Ricard circuit there was no chance for the famous Grand Prix track to dry and the 43 riders had to put up with a wet track and a blustery wind.

For the two Australians and two South Africans it was a long way to come to be tested in such conditions, the Australians with very little rain experience and the South Africans with none at all.

“It's still a great track though,” said fourteen year old Steven Odendaal from Glenvista, South Africa. “It would be really fantastic if the sun was shining.”

“It's a great circuit.” confirmed fellow countryman Mathew Scholtz from Durban. “For me though Sachsenring was even better, I liked the hills and drops,” added the fifteen year old.

Australian Ryan Dymond said that he was enjoying it tremendously even if the circuit was a challenge. “I just love being here. The track is wide and it takes time to learn how to use it,” said the fourteen year old.

Even those from Europe, well used to bad weather found the conditions testing. “I don't like the cold and the rain,” commented fifteen year old Andrea Touskova from the Czech Republic. “The bike and the track are just perfect though and I am so happy to be here. I just have to try and forget about the weather.”

The weather forecast was for even worse on day two, November 23 but in fact the day dawned a little brighter and the track slowly started to dry as the riders went out on the 3.841km circuit that employed about two thirds of the classic GP track.