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By Emanuele Venturoli| Posted April 4, 2015 | In MotoGP, Sport News, Sport Sponsorship, Sports Marketing
Nelson Piquet Jr. has become the 6th different winner in succession in the 2014/2015 Formula E World championship. Nelson emulated his father by taking his first win in the championship at Long Beach; 35 years after Piquet Sr. won his first Formula One Grand Prix at the street circuit.
The Brazilian driver was 3rd on the grid but quickly jumped up to the front after a lightning get-away. He managed to dispatch pole-sitter Daniel Abt and second placed Nicolas Prost as he squirmed his way into the lead at the first chicane. Further back in the field things got a bit tight, with championship contender Sam Bird falling foul of a collision with another driver. Thanks to the contact, the Virgin Racing driver’s front-left wishbone broke; forcing the Brit to pit at the end of lap 1. He jumped aboard his second car, but due to the impossibility of making the car’s battery life last a whole race, he retired later on.
Bird wasn’t the only driver to be taking an early bath. Scott Speed had made a fantastic debut in the championship last month in Miami, but the home-hero wasn’t going to make it to lap 5. The Californian took too much speed into the first chicane, forcing him to drive over the second kerb. The kerb put Speed’s front wheels up in the air and then into the wall. The safety car would soon be deployed to collect the dejected driver who had been running 4th in the Andretti Autosport car.
One Safety Car was followed in quick succession by another, with Charles Pic seemingly out-breaking himself into the final hairpin whilst trying to pass Loic Duval. Pic’s China racing car avoided Duval but unfortunately collected Jarno Trulli; with the contact putting the Italian out of the race and the Frenchman into the pits a few laps later for a drive through penalty.
Piquet proved on both restarts that he was going to fight tooth and claw to take his first win of the year, with the Brazilian sprinting away on both occasions after great runs out of the hairpin. Piquet only lost the lead once during the race when the pit-stop phase occured; with Bruno Senna electing to stay out and lead a lap. Piquet would retake the lead from his fellow countryman on the next lap, with Senna emerging from the pits in a nostalgic wheel-to-wheel battle with Nicolas Prost. Senna would win the fight to take 6th, with Piquet, Vergne, Abt, Di Grassi and Buemi ahead of him with 14 laps to go.
Daniel Abt would have been elated before the race when he learned that the fastest qualifier, Sebastien Buemi, had been moved down to 10th after exceeding the maximum power output. This, after all, had put the German onto the pole position for the race. The smile was wiped in the closing stages of the ePrix however. Abt was running 3rd when he got a drive through for exactly the same problem. He would fall down to 14th.
Another driver to have bad luck in the final few laps was Nicolas Prost. He had joined Abt on the front row of the grid, but he would soon join him further down the order after a drive through after a ‘Touring Car style’ pass on Jerome d’Ambrosio into the hairpin. The e.Dams driver bumped the Belgians car which allowed Nicolas to pass. Prost would go on to take the fastest lap of the race and the championship point that comes with it.
The Long Beach ePrix was one of the only races not to have a nose-to-tail fight for the lead in the closing laps, with Nelson Piquet Jr being able to coast home on the final lap to take his first Formula E victory. His father had taken his first win of his Formula One career 35 years previously on the streets of Long Beach, so it was only fitting that his son, baring a tribute helmet for the anniversary, should take his first win of his Formula E career. Interestingly, Piquet had been the winner of the FanBoost win along with Jean-Eric Vergne and Sam Bird, but the race-winner elected not to use the boost at all during the race.
Jean-Eric Vergne finally got on the podium after running out of luck during his season so far. The Andretti driver had impressed right from his début in the third round, but he missed out on the win after mechanical issues. This podium now see’s him 8th in the championship despite missing the first two rounds of the season. Third on the podium would go to Lucas Di Grassi, who would take the championship lead by 1 point ahead of race-winner Nelson Piquet Jr.
Buemi put in a solid drive to take 4th place after being demoted to 10th from pole position. He finished just ahead of Bruno Senna, who equalled the Mahindra Racing team’s best finish of the year with 5th place. 6th would go to fellow ex-Formula One driver Jerome d’Ambrosio, with Buenos Aires ePrix winner Antonio Felix da Costa claiming 7th after a combative drive for Amlin Aguri. Jaime Alguersauri was just behind in 8th, with Loic Duval and Stephane Sarrazin completing the points paying positions.
Sebastien Buemi took the 3 bonus points for setting the fastest time in qualifying, despite the fact that he was demoted to 10th after the session, with Nico Prost claiming one bonus point for the fastest lap of the race.
There is now a month break until the Formula E championship heads to the second historic street circuit in a row. The Monaco ePrix takes place on the 9th of May, with Lucas di Grassi heading into the event with the championship lead.
2015 Long Beach ePrix results:
POS | Driver | Team | Points | Grid |
1 | Nelson Piquet Jr. (FB) | China Racing | 25 | 3rd |
2 | Jean-Eric Vergne (FB) | Andretti | 18 | 5th |
3 | Lucas Di Grassi | Audi Sport Abt | 15 | 4th |
4 | Sebastien Buemi (P) | e.dams Renault | 15 | 10th |
5 | Bruno Senna | Mahindra Racing | 10 | 12th |
6 | Jerome d’Ambrosio | Dragon Racing | 8 | 8th |
7 | Antonio Felix da Costa | Amlin Aguri | 6 | 7th |
8 | Jaime Alguersauri | Virgin Racing | 4 | 14th |
9 | Loic Duval | Dragon Racing | 2 | 17th |
10 | Stephane Sarrazin | Venturi | 1 | 9th |
11 | Nick Heidfeld | Venturi | 0 | 15th |
12 | Karun Chandhok | Mahindra Racing | 0 | 18th |
13 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Trulli | 0 | 20th |
14 | Nicolas Prost (FL) | e.dams Renault | 1 | 2nd |
15 | Daniel Abt | Audi Sport Abt | 0 | 1st |
16 | Charles Pic | China Racing | 0 | 16th |
17 | Salvador Duran | Amlin Aguri | DNF | 19th |
18 | Sam Bird (FB) | Virgin Racing | DNF | 11th |
19 | Jarno Trulli | Trulli | DNF | 13th |
20 | Scott Speed | Andretti | DNF | 6th |
P = 3 points for fastest time in qualifying. FL = 1 point for fastest lap in race. FB = FanBoost winners.
Are you ready to explore the transformative power of athlete sponsorship for your brand? Click here to learn more about how sponsorship can help brands grow and thrive in the exciting world of motorsports.
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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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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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
Executive Director Server&Storage EMEA
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
Commercial Director
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
Head of Communication
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
Team Principal
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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