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The most important team and rider changes ahead of MotoGP 2019
By Emanuele Venturoli| Posted January 8, 2019 | In MotoGP, Motor Racing
By Emanuele Venturoli| Posted January 8, 2019 | In MotoGP, Motor Racing
The most important team and rider changes ahead of MotoGP 2019
There’s change afoot for both riders and teams in MotoGP 2019, with the break-up of decades-old partnerships and new riders coming up from the lower ranks of motorsport with a promise to shake up the coming season.
Here are a few of the most important changes we’ll see as the MotoGP 2019 season gets underway…
Changes at Aprilia
Andrea Iannone and Bradley Smith have joined Aprilia for MotoGP 2019 – moves that team boss Romano Albesiano says should ensure improved performance for a team that had an unexpectedly disappointing season in 2018. Iannone has factory experience and has spent two seasons each at Aprilia rivals Ducati and Suzuki, whilst Smith has joined Aprilia as a tester after two years on the KTM factory team.
Off the track, Aprilia has also made a big change in-house by appointing Massimo Rivola, formerly of Ferrari Formula 1, as its racing department CEO.
Tech 3 moves to KTM
After two decades as the official Yamaha Independent Team, Tech 3 has broken a longstanding tradition for MotoGP 2019 and moved to KTM. Yamaha has replaced their long-term partner with the Sepang International Circuit team (SIC), the Austria-based Malaysian racing team that has been most prominent in the past at Moto2 and Moto3 level.
Jorge Lorenzo joins Repsol Honda
In one of the most talked about moves ahead of MotoGP 2019, five-time champion Jorge Lorenzo has left Ducati after two years to join rival MotoGP team Repsol Honda – racing alongside current world champion Marc Marquez.
Read more about Lorenzo’s move to Repsol Honda and his likelihood of beating new teammate Marquez here.
No Marc VDS Racing Team at MotoGP 2019
The Belgian Marc VDS Racing Team won’t be appearing at MotoGP 2019, after being dropped from the entry list. Instead, Marc VDS Racing will be taking part in Moto2 as well as the MotoE World Cup – a series that uses entirely electric bikes and will be supported by MotoGP at five races in the 2019 season.
New faces arrive at the top level of motorsport
Replacing Danilo Petrucci at Pramac Racing is Francesco Bagnaia, who is coming up from Moto2 for his first slice of life in the top class of MotoGP.
Elsewhere, former Moto2 and Moto3 KTM rider Miguel Oliveira is also joining MotoGP for the first time, taking his place in the Tech 3 team.
The incredibly promising 2017 Moto3 champion Joan Mir is moving from Moto2 to Suzuki Ecstar to be paired with Alex Rins, whilst Fabio Quartararo joins Petronas Yamaha SIC to race alongside Franco Morbidelli.
Want to know how you can leverage MotoGP in your own sports sponsorship campaigns? Contact RTR Sports Marketing today
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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Read MoreWhy choose RTR Sports Marketing
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
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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