- Indian rider Jaden Immanuel has won the 2026 ADAC Junior Cup
- Raced the Honda NSF250R for F. Koch Rennsport/ADAC WTB e.V.
Honda NSF250R rider Jaden Immanuel, aged 14, has been crowned the 2026 ADAC Junior Cup champion giving Indian motorcycle racing fans a worthy result. The Indian racer completed the season at Hockenheim after establishing himself as the rider to beat across a calendar that included the Sachsenring, Brno, Oschersleben and Assen. He raced the number 91 Honda NSF250R for F. Koch Rennsport/ADAC WTB e.V. throughout the championship.
The ADAC Junior Cup is designed as a development series for riders trying to progress towards motorcycle world championship racing. For 2026, it was open to riders aged between 13 and 21 and was contested across five race weekends. The field was also no longer restricted to one motorcycle, with machinery including the Honda NSF250R, KTM RC4R, BeOn Promo3 and Ohvale GP-7 permitted. ADAC uses weight equalisation between the different bikes to keep the competition relatively balanced.
He arrived at the finale with 161 points, 44 clear of Lorenz on 117. Säuberlich sat third with 112, while Linsbichler had 108. There were still 50 points available across the last two races, so the championship was not mathematically finished. But Immanuel had already built himself a considerable cushion.
That lead had been earned through five victories before the final weekend. ADAC highlighted his Sachsenring win, the Brno double and his victory at Oschersleben, along with the valuable points collected at Assen.
At Hockenheim, Ole Säuberlich won Saturday’s race, while guest rider Louis Wolff was among the leading riders. The championship nevertheless ended with Immanuel confirmed as the new ADAC Junior Cup champion. On Sunday, Wolff won the final race of the year on the road, with Immanuel finishing second and Säuberlich third.
A fitting end because Immanuel did not simply cruise around protecting a points lead. Sunday shows Wolff, the newly crowned champion and Säuberlich involved in a close three-way fight during the final race.
The Honda that took Immanuel to victory is also worth looking at. This NSF250R is a race-prepped motorcycle developed by HRC specifically for lightweight road racing class. It weighs just 84kg, has a 249.3cc liquid-cooled single-cylinder engine and produces roughly 47bhp at 13,000rpm. Peak torque is 28Nm at 10,500rpm.
India has an enormous motorcycle market, but its representation at the sharp end of international road racing remains small. Young Indian racers generally have to move into European or Asian championships to access deeper grids, specialist teams and circuits that form part of the established route towards world-level competition.
Immanuel has now done more than simply enter one of those series. He has won it.
