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Category: Moto GP
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PART 2: THE STRUCTURE
If it is true that being able to have dreams is key to build such a big project, as well as to believe in your own work, choose the manufacturer and the riders you think are more fitting to the project, there is also a lot more to focus and work on…
This is why we had a chat with Michele Masini, a long-time Gresini Racing member, who next year will be the sporting director of the Gresini MotoGP project.
How is the MotoGP project created from the sporting side of things?
First of all, I would like to say that I’m very proud that the Gresini family has put their faith in me for the Sporting Director position. I have been with Gresini Racing since 2008 and it is an honour for me to be following first-hand this MotoGP return as independent team for the first time in seven years.
It was Fausto’s dream and perhaps this is the base: the extra motivation he gave us to make sure Gresini Racing could return to past glory. The goal is to make sure the team positions itself again as the reference point among the MotoGP satellite teams.
We’re working side by side with Ducati on all fronts; the goal is to have a team with a high technical level but at the same time a young and ambitious one: it will be a mix of trusted Gresini Racing people with some new entries who have an important amount of experience with Ducati.
How will the team be structured?
The team will consist of around 25-26 people. Twenty of them from Gresini Racing and five people from Ducati Corse: a track engineer and an electronic engineer for each rider and a spare parts manager.
Next steps from a structural point of view
We’ve been working for a year in order to find a top-level structure for what concerns hospitality and team trucks. During the next weeks we will have a clearer idea about the graphics, which is overseen by Drudi Performance. The goal is to get to November with a winter test graphic which will resemble our 2022 image.
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What are the goals of the project?
We want the best synergy with Ducati because we are aiming at being the reference point of Borgo Panigale as a sort of junior team, where riders can develop and grow. We want to work well together and with a team spirit, because we are and always will be the #GresiniFamily.
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It is no mystery that the Gresini MotoGP project was Fausto Gresini’s secret wish. A dream which, we’re absolutely sure, he would have carried out with his own hands. His early disappearance surely put Gresini Racing in front of a complex reality, a reality which his wife Nadia Padovani was able to shape after Fausto.
From here, the Gresini MotoGP project was born, a project which found in Ducati Corse the right ally and then in Di Giannantonio and Bastianini an all-Italian line-up, one which is romantically tied to the history of Fausto – and of Gresini as a company.
NADIA PADOVANI GRESINI – GRESINI RACING TEAM OWNER & TEAM PRINCIPAL
“To continue in the sign of Fausto was and still is our mission and – to do so the best way possible – the return to MotoGP as an independent team was an obligatory step. The last months were really intense, loaded with work and emotions and together with the team with focused our efforts to create the best possible MotoGP project. Ducati Corse and Fausto were in talks already at the end of last season and I think choosing Borgo Panigale’s manufacturer was the right call, even though I’m not forgetting about the important partnership with Aprilia these past years.
Regarding the riders… what can I say? Talent, speed, ambition and their success are in front of everybody’s eyes, and I believe MotoGP will be their stage for many years to come. They are very young, and the fact that it was indeed Fausto who ‘discovered’ them and brought them on the world stage makes me think that it is a line-up he would have approved with full grades.”
FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO - MOTOGP RIDER
“Getting to the top doesn’t happen every day. Next year I will be racing in the most premier class in this sport, and this is an incredible dream. The first day it will be like getting into the big league: it will be a whole new, huge experience, doesn’t matter how it ends up. Going from Moto2 to MotoGP will be tough: 100 more horsepower, more people in the pit-box, more commitments, more buttons on the handlebars… It will be a huge change, but I feel I’m ready and I can’t wait.”
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ENEA BASTIANINI – MOTOGP RIDER
“It is a fantastic thing to be back with Gresini Racing, a team that is like a family to me and who strongly believed in me in the past. In fact, it was the first one to believe in me. We have been together for three years and I only have good memories. Obviously, I would have loved to start this new journey with Fausto, but the Gresini Family is named this way for a reason, so I will have a lot of friends close by who will help me. We found the agreement with Ducati that we were looking for and I’m sure next year we will have a very competitive bike. I will be much readier for this category entering 2022 and with even greater motivation.”
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THREE RS 660 ON THE PODIUM IN MOTOAMERICA, DE KEYREL STRENGTHENS THE LEADERSHIP IN THE TWINS CUP
The famous American circuit of Laguna Seca hosted the Twins Cup of MotoAmerica last weekend. And it was a race to remember for Aprilia, which took three steps on the podium with three RS 660s.
Championship leader Kaleb De Keyrel (Robem Engineering team) got off to a good start from fifth place on the grid, gained during a very tight qualifying session. He quickly grabbed the first position, maintained the lead until the checkered flag and, at the halfway mark of the championship, strengthens his leadership in the category.
“We were trying to get comfortable most of the weekend, making progress each step, and when the race arrived, we had a good setup,” explains Kaleb De Keyrel, “I was able to make a few passes early on and get out front, and get into the lap times we needed to be keep a lead. When I can get out front, I like that best, as it allows me to set the pace, and focus. I felt comfortable, precise, and had a great ride on my RS 660.”
After his debut in the Veloce Racing Team last race, with little experience riding the RS 660, Anthony Mazziotto confirmed in California what he had already shown in Washington. After having just missed the pole position by 13 thousandths, he was 27 thousandths behind De Keyrel for a well deserved second place.
“Team Veloce put a really great bike underneath me, and I want to thank Spiros Gabrilis and the crew for the opportunity, we’re making it work,” said Anthony Mazziotto, “Kaleb had me working here, and I just couldn’t get around him today. The Aprilia surprised me, because at The Ridge, Jackson [Blackmon] was very fast on his FZ, and also being a technical track, I expected to see the same thing climbing up the hill, but the Aprilia definitely dominated here at Laguna Seca.”
Jody Barry arrived at Laguna Seca determined, showing speed right from practice and taking the Superpole. Despite the fastest lap of the weekend, he had to settle for the third step of the podium after 13 laps, 1.071 seconds behind the winner.
“Pace of the race was very fast, set by De Keyrel. The bike has been great, we had grip throughout the race, and were stable the whole time, it’s been amazing,” said Jody Barry of Righteous Racing team, “Toward the end, I was pushing and closing the gap, but unfortunately, we hit some traffic, and just couldn’t get it to work, but we’re happy with the result and can’t complain.”
After five rounds of the MotoAmerica Twins Cup championship, riders continue to arrive to the grid aboard Aprilia RS 660 machines, proving the ability of the motorcycles to compete in America’s premiere championship as frontrunners. MotoAmerica heads to Brainerd International Raceway, in Minnesota for Round 6, of the 9-round championship, July 30 – August 1.
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SIX-TIME WORLD CHAMPION AND THE MOST SUCCESSFUL RIDER IN APRILIA'S HISTORY
THE ONLY ITALIAN WSBK CHAMPION ASTRIDE HIS AMAZING RSV4
An important occasion, an umpteenth milestone achieved by a great champion: six-time world champion Max Biaggi turns 50, or perhaps it would be better to say that he has completed 50 seasons. The Roman’s life has been marked by wins on tracks all over the world. Many of these proudly bore the Aprilia name, a brand for which he is now a popular ambassador.
From the roaring years of his four consecutive world championships in 250 to his return to Superbike in great style, Max and Aprilia share a long history. The first to ride the “quarter-litre” from Veneto to a world championship title, the first Italian (and on an Italian bike) World Superbike Champion, the list of firsts is long and lends merit to the value he demonstrated on the track. Without following the traditional path, making a rather late début as compared with the usual practice of grooming pure natural talent. All the way to his return to the podium with a wild card in the 2015 Malaysia WSBK round, almost three years after his retirement, that has all the flavour of a legend.
It’s a pleasure to remember him on the occasion of a special anniversary for Max Biaggi, the man, to whom all of Aprilia and the Piaggio Group send their best wishes.
MAX BIAGGI
“This is also a nice milestone and it’s great to celebrate it with so many friends, with the entire Aprilia family, and to celebrate it along with the many victories that we have taken on tracks all over the world. I am especially proud to have been the most victorious rider ever for Aprilia and adding two SBK titles to my trophy case is truly a particular feeling, because we won them many years after the world championships won in the 250 class. Just like having marked two very different and very important eras with those wins. But I must say that I am always thinking of the future and the challenges that await us. With Aprilia and with many friends who are riders and former champions, I still love and frequent the track. Putting myself to the test and always being fast is a goal that I hope I’ll never lose. See you on the track, at my next outing on my RSV4.”
Max Biaggi, Roman, born in 1971, begins his motorcycling career in 1989 at 18 years of age making his début in the 125 cc category. One year later he is already the Italian champion in the "Sport Production" category.
Max, immediately held in high esteem for his efficient and clean riding style, Max shows his talent each time he changes categories. In 1991 he is already racing in the 250 world championship with Aprilia. The 250 title in 1994 is the first of an exceptional hat trick where he dominated astride the Italian bike through 1996.
In the “quarter-litre” category, Max catalogues results that are unprecedented in the history of World Championship Motorcycling: the most ever pole positions, the most podiums in the category and 4 world titles won (three with Aprilia) consecutively from '94 to '97.
In 1998 he makes his début in the 500 category on a Honda. His entrance on the scene at Suzuka is a memorable occasion when he takes a triple victory: pole position, first place and the fastest lap in the race, an accomplishment which had only ever been achieved by the Finn, Jarno Saarinen, 25 years earlier. At the end of the season Max will come in second place in the world rankings.
In 1999 Biaggi moves to Yamaha and begins a progressive ascent. He places fourth in the rankings his first year, improving in 2000 with third place and then growing again in 2001, ending the season in second place. The 2002 season ends the same way, marked by the change in rules for the premier class and the birth of MotoGP.
In 2003 when Biaggi moved over to Honda, he ranks third with the Sito Pons private team. In 2005 he is the Repsol HRC team rider.
In 2007 Max made his Superbike début with Suzuki. Once again, Max astonishes everyone from the outset on the Qatar track. He wins Race 1 and takes second in Race 2. The season is characterised by the battle for the championship, with Max missing the title by just eight points.
In 2009, Biaggi comes back to Aprilia to ride the futuristic Aprilia RSV4 that marks the Noale-based manufacturer’s return to World SBK. Aprilia had never before won the WSBK title and with the new RSV4 attempts the assault on the championship in the races reserved for large-engine four-stroke bikes.
It is a triumph: Max rides the Italian V4 to victory in the rookie season and dominates in 2010 and 2012, earning a double world title - Rider and Manufacturer - the first and only Italian to succeed in this undertaking. He retires from racing after the 2012 title with six career World Titles under his belt, but the call of the track brought him back to racing in 2015. Riding as a wild card in the World SBK Malaysian round, he made an extraordinary podium finish on the Sepang track, reiterating (at 44 years of age and almost three years after his last race) the talent of a champion and the competitiveness of the Aprilia RSV4 project.
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The 2022 Gresini Racing MotoGP project continues to take shape.
After the announcement of the two-year deal with Ducati and the confirmation of the all-Italian line up of Fabio Di Giannantonio and Enea Bastianini, another piece of the puzzle has fallen into place.
FLEX-BOX, for more than fifteen years a leading international company in the development and manufacturing of long-distance shipping containers, will be the title sponsor of the team entered by Gresini Racing in the 2022 MotoGP season.
FLEX-BOX, which has already been present for many years in the world of motorcycle racing as an official sponsor of Ducati Corse, will become title sponsor of a MotoGP team for the first time, with the Team being named FLEX-BOX Gresini MotoGP TEAM.
HENRIK NIELSEN – CEO FLEX-BOX
“We are delighted to join Gresini Racing in their new effort in MotoGP. We have been in the motorsport world for a while already, and it is still pretty exciting to start a partnership like this that places our bran at the pinnacle of motorcycle racing. I believe we have two very talented young riders and a very solid project for the next season, and I can’t wait to work alongside Nadia, Carlo and all the Team”.
CARLO MERLINI – DIRETTORE COMMERCIALE E MARKETING GRESINI RACING
“I’m so happy to welcome Flex-Box and Henrik Nielsen in the #gresinifamily. Building new partnerships is always very exciting and the fact that Henrik was one of the first believers in the new Gresini’s MotoGP project makes it somehow special. Flex-Box will be an integrant part of the team naming and this tells a lot about how they decided to places their bets in the Gresini MotoGP, since the beginning, and I’m obviously very grateful to Henrik for his trust. Everybody knows that our 2022 project will be “dressed in red” and I’m sure that, together with Enea and Fabio, we will put some good show on stage and deliver excitements to our partners like Flex-Box, as well to all our fans.”
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