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Formula E: Audi Sport ABT to retain driver line-up for second season
By Emanuele Venturoli| Posted May 20, 2015 | In MotoGP, Sport News, Sport Sponsorship, Sports Marketing
By Emanuele Venturoli| Posted May 20, 2015 | In MotoGP, Sport News, Sport Sponsorship, Sports Marketing
Formula E: Audi Sport ABT to retain driver line-up for second season
Ahead of the team’s home round in Berlin, Audi Sport ABT have announced that they will keep their current drivers Lucas di Grassi and Daniel Abt for the 2015-2016 Formula E world championship.
Di Grassi, the current championship leader, was announced to be remaining with the team a few weeks ago, with the team waiting until today to confirm that Abt too will race for them next year.
“I’m delighted and also quite proud that Lucas will be part of our team in the future,” said team principal Hans-Jürgen Abt, “We both knew what we wanted and reached an agreement immediately. The negotiations didn’t even take thirty minutes before we shook hands.
“Lucas is one of the absolute top drivers in Formula E. Of course, we know that he is hot property because of his strengths on and off the track. With this in mind, we wanted to close this issue as fast as possible.”
Di Grassi took the first ever Formula E race win back in September with the Beijing ePrix having inherited the lead at the last turn thanks to Nick Heidfeld and Nicolas Prost’s victory. Since then, he has taken 4 podiums in 6 races and holds the title lead by 4 points ahead of fellow countryman Nelson Piquet Junior.
Abt, on the other hand, has yet to secure his first victory in the series. He has however managed to secure a pole position and a podium at the Miami ePrix.
“I feel completely at home in Formula E and want to grow together with the series,” said Daniel Abt, “Formula E is going through a fantastic stage of development that includes exciting races and many cool ideas off the track. I think this series has a great future. I’m delighted to still be on board, and want to grow together with Formula E. I’m obviously very proud that I can race in the future with the team that carries our family name.”
Abt spoke in the pit-lane of the Berlin ePrix track today about the Audi Sport ABT team’s chances in the next season where teams are allowed to engineer much more of their own cars. The likelihood is that the team will be using a power-train supplied by sponsor Schaeffler – a manufacturer of automotive parts.
“We’re actually going to go testing the power-train pretty soon. Hopefully we’re going to be the Mercedes team of Formula E next year,” Abt said, referring to the dominant Mercedes Formula One team, “I think we’re really in a good position. Our guys did a very good job. Hopefully we can be the number one team next year.”
Abt will be out on track on Saturday for the Berlin ePrix event, his home race. After Berlin, Formula E will head to Moscow for the penultimate event of the season before a special double-header race in London in June.
If you like Formula E, you should read more about Formula E Agency.
Emanuele Venturoli
A graduate in Public, Social and Political Communication from the University of Bologna, he has always been passionate about marketing, design and sport.
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In an era where it is possible to get anywhere with a click, there is a strong temptation to approach teams and properties directly for sponsorship projects.
By doing so, we are convinced that we are shortening the value chain, saving time and money. However, these DYI methods are anything but risk-free and what initially appears to be a competitive advantage soon turns into a problem that is difficult to resolve. That’s why there are agencies. And this is why you should rely on us for your sponsorships.
Save time and money
When first approaching a sponsorship or sports marketing project, it is difficult to know immediately which stakeholders are correct, what the decision flow is, and what the right timelines are for each process. Sports is a very specialized field of action, and fitting effectively into its paths can take a lot of time and therefore money. We, on the other hand, know referents and spheres of action and know who to talk to, when and how. So you are also more effective.
The right information, the right choice
Sports is an immense passion, and for our heart colors we would be willing to do anything. But business is a different business, and it is important to make the best possible strategic decisions based on independent research, statistics and reliable data. A sports marketing and sports sponsorship agency like RTR has an objective, 360-degree picture of the scenario and can tell you what is really best for you: which sport, which athlete, which team. This is because we possess a great deal of data and information on ratings, segmentation and attitudes. Because the numbers don’t lie. Never.
Activations are the beating heart
Activations are the real heart of sports sponsorship. Without them, there remains only a blank sticker on a motorcycle, car or uniform and no contact with the public, no emotional connection, no impact on the bottom line. Then how do you do it? It certainly won’t be the teams or the athletes who will help you leverage sponsorship and enjoy the many marketing rights you have paid for. To bring out the best in a sports marketing project you need an agency that knows how to use sponsorship to engage the fanbase on the Web, to reach out to Shopping Centers, to organize hospitality, to develop B2B and B2C opportunities, and to get “your” athletes in front of millions of potential consumers.
Objective measurements for a certain return
Would you ever go to the dealer who sold you the car and ask if the competitor’s car is better? No, of course. So, how do you expect to get firm measurements of the effectiveness of your sponsorship if you do not rely on someone super partes? At RTR, we have always worked with independent third-party agencies that allow us to know the return on any exposure of your brand on TV and in the media. In addition, we believe in calculating ROI as the ultimate measure of your success-so we can tell you for every penny you spend how much you are making.
Sit back, relax, we’ll take care of it
We have been involved in sports sponsorship and sports marketing for more than 15 years. We are consultants in the sense that our goal is to maximize your investment, but we are also an agency that manages the project from start to finish. We have been doing this since 1995 with passion and professionalism, following three principles that have become cornerstones of our business: independence, verticality and transparency.
I would like to highlight the fact that one of the qualities of RTR is its great ability to approach the sponsorship scenario strategically, together with its passionate attitude, its amazing enthusiasm for solving problems, and its high level of professionalism.
Gianluca Degliesposti
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Eurosport is truly delighted with its business relationship with Riccardo Tafà, who has become extremely popular, thanks to his detailed knowledge of the sports marketing sector and his highly diligent attitude to work.
Francois Ribeiro
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Passion and Expertise are the features that I have found in RTR since the very beginning. Serious and reliable professionals but also very helpful, nice and open-mind people, willing to listen and compare different ideas. All the values in which RTR believes make this agency a partner, not just a supplier, a partner with whom we have had the opportunity to achieve significant commercial results in term of success and image.
Luca Pacitto
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We have been working with RTR Sports Marketing for over 10 years. The objectives and the programmes of collaboration continue to be renewed and to grow with mutual satisfaction. I believe RTR is a team of great professionals led by Riccardo Tafà, who I consider a manager of exceptional skills and with a great passion for his work.
Lucio Cecchinello
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I have known and worked with Riccardo Tafà since 1995 when we collaborated for the first time on a project for the Williams Formula 1 team. Several clients followed. After leaving Williams to work for Gerhard Berger then owner of the Toro Rosso F1 Team, I turned again to Riccardo to seek his help in finding a tool supplier for the team and Riccardo duly obliged with an introduction to USAG, a partnership with Toro Rosso which endured for five years. I recently started a new role as Group Commercial Director for the renowned Andretti Autosport organisation and I find myself working with Riccardo once again on a number of interesting projects. Why has this relationship with Riccardo endured ? He’s smart, knows the commercial side of sport inside out and back to front and he’s honest and trustworthy. Riccardo Tafà is a “doer” not a “talker”: in over 20 years I have never had a dispute either with him or with a company that he has introduced and each partnership introduced by Riccardo has delivered quantifiable ROI to rights holder and sponsor alike. I can think of no better testimonial of Riccardo’s diligence, knowledge, contact base and hard work than that.
Jim Wright
Group Commercial Director
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