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By Riccardo Tafà| Posted September 29, 2014 | In MotoGP, Motor Racing, Motorsports, Sport News
After a completely soaked Warm-Up session sunday morning, the weather for the Aragón Grand Prix didn’t change at all. First to start of the race day was, as usual, the Moto3 class. Due to the foggy conditions, first the Warm-Up and with that, the race itself, had to start later. Even if the ideal line dried out before the start, the race direction declared it a wet race.
Danny Kent, who started from second place, leaded the race after a very good start in front of Miller and Bastianini. Both riders started good, but apart from Kent, the biggest surprise was John McPhee. The SaxoPrint-RTG rider has never been able to achieve a better result than seventh position, but got up to fourth place after a good start. Sadly the brit couldn’t keep up to the top and lost two places within two laps.
Meanwhile both Jack Miller, Alex Rins and later on Álex Márquez overtook the still leading Danny Kent, with Miller taking the lead. Followed by Kent and McPhee, the leading group opened up a gap to their pursuers. Miller, now being behind Márquez, tried to overtake him from the outside, but failed terribly and crashed out of the race. The contact between them was investigated by the race direction. They are going to have a discussion after the MotoGP race, but, however, a significant punishment isn’t expected.
With the, by then, championship leader Miller out of the race, McPhee temporarily found himself on a podium place , going up from fourth to third position.
But with one benefiting from Miller’s crash, the next one to make a mistake was Danny Kent. He lost a couple of places, continuing the race from just seventh position. By then, Miller had entered the pits and decided to give it a try once again.
With all the back and forth up front, Romano Fenati fought his way through the field. The italian had started in a low 13th position, but continuously overtook everybody in front of him. After Kent’s mistake and a slip-up by Alex Rins that threw his back to eighth place, Fenati suddenly was fourth, with Kent right behind him. In front of him was the still leading Álex Márquez and a strong Jakub Kornfeil, who made good use of the previous mistakes, but lost a couple of places on the last laps.
But still things were going well for Fenati. The previously crashed McPhee went down once again, which let the fight for the victory open for only Álex Márquez, Romano Fenati and Danny Kent.
Finally, Fenati was able to overtake Márquez on the final meters, achieving his fourth victory this year. The podium was completed by Álex Márquez and Danny Kent. The Top Ten was completed by Alex Rins, Jakub Kornfeil, Enea Bastianini, Miguel Oliveira, Brad Binder, Niccolò Antonelli and Alexis Masbou.
With Jack Miller out of points, Álex Márquez now leads the championship with 11 points over the aussie.
The following Moto2 race was declared a dry race by the race direction. The track had almost completely dried off and there was no sign of nascent rain. Polesetter Maverick Viñales lost a position to Mika Kallio, who tried to open up a gap, but couldn’t get rid of Viñales. The spaniard followed the finn closely, with Johann Zarco in third and Esteve „Tito“ Rabat in fourth position.
Halfway through the first lap, a „Ride Through“ penalty was imposed on Jonas Folger. The german, who was currently riding in seventh position, jump started the race and had to cross the pit lane after the first lap. It’s the second „Ride Through“ penalty for Folger in the last two races. He ran out of the track limits at the Misano Grand Prix two weeks ago and took too long to understand the instructions of the race direction. With this immense residue, Folger was out of the victory fight. He finished the race in 23th position.
With Kallio up front and Viñales following him, the battle between Zarco and Rabat went on. The spaniard was able to overtake Zarco and tried to follow the leading pair. Zarco however was joined by Dominique Aegerter, who moved up from eighth to fourth position. The swiss is well known for his good starts and braking, so he left Zarco fast behind him and closed the gap to Tito Rabat. His teammate Kallio had lost the lead to Viñales moments later.
The Top Four, which included Viñales, Kallio, Rabat and Aegerter, had an immense lead over the following riders, but the Zarco and Morbidelli in fifth and sixth position closed up on the leading group soon. A struggle by Viñales also caused that the leading four riders came together even closer. Especially Rabat caught up on Viñales, with Tom Lüthi and Johann Zarco fighting behind them for the third positon.
Kallio however fell back to seventh position, after losing his second place to the likes of Rabat, Zarco, Lüthi, Morbidelli and Aegerter.
He completed the leading group and was followed by Jordi Torres, Sam Lowes and Marcel Schrötter.
But even with two thrilling races, the most spectacular and mixed-up race had yet to come.
The MotoGP race was, just like the earlier Moto2 race, declared as a dry race.
First surprise was Pramac Ducati rider Andrea Iannone, who took the lead from Dani Pedrosa and Marc Márquez at the beginning. Also Jorge Lorenzo benefited from a good start and made up three places. He had qualified in the seventh position, but saw his chance and jumped on it. This continued throughout the whole race.
Márquez and Iannnone fought hard, but eventually Márquez could prevail. Lorenzo followed shortly behind them, with Dani Pedrosa in fourth position.
Sadly it didn’t take long until Iannone crashed out of the race with a completely destroyed Desmosedici. The italian had crossed the slippery artificial turf, that is situated right next to the track limits. It is questionable, if the artificial turf is really needed, since in this race only it caused two riders to crash.
One was Andrea Iannone, the other was his fellow countrymen Valentino Rossi, who had won the Misano Grand Prix two weeks ago. Rossi went on the brakes far too late, almost taking Dani Pedrosa out of the race, too. Unfortunately the nine time world champion wasn’t able to stand up on his own, which left the whole circuit breathless. Luckily he seems to have no serious injuries, but had been taken to the hospital in Alcaniz for further examinations.
With Rossi and Iannone out of the race, the lead was taken over by Marc Márquez, still followed by Jorge Lorenzo, Dani Pedrosa and Pol Espargaró. Even with the now starting rain, Márquez and Lorenzo fought an unconpromising fight, changing the lead over and over again. Few laps later, Pedrosa jointed the fight.
The struggling went on and on, with a constant switch of the lead.
Aleix Espargaró however came in as soon as the rain started and it turned out to be the best strategy. Espargaró had been on seventh place, but after his bike change he fastly caught up fastly.
With every lap into the race, the rain got heavier. But neither Márquez, Lorenzo or Pedrosa went into the box to change their bike. First to regret this was Dani Pedrosa, who crashed even without the help of Valentino Rossi. He made it back to the pits and finished the race on his for the rain prepared second bike in 14th position.
By now, almost the whole field had changed their bikes, but the older Espargaró had the perfect timing. He took the third place behind Jorge Lorenzo, who had changed the bike as well. Just Márquez was out on slicks now and this was a big mistake. Due to the very wet track he crashed and handed the lead over to Lorenzo, who was determined to finally make Aragón “Lorenzos Land”.
He did so, winning his first Grand Prix in the 2014 season in front of an overjoyed Aleix Espargaró. Third one to complete the podium was Ducati factory rider Cal Crutchlow, who certainly hadn’t expected such a good result. Stefan Bradl crossed the finish line behind them, followed by Pol Espargaró, Bradley Smith, Álvaro Bautista, Hiroshi Aoyama, Nicky Hayden and Scott Redding. Especially for Nicky Hayden, who rode his first race after his hand injury, this result will be a satisfaction.
World champion Marc Márquez ended the race after his crash and the following bike change in 13th place, still collecting three points for the overall standings. Next to Andrea Iannone and Valentino Rossi, also Andrea Dovizioso crashed out of the race, but luckily every rider appeared to without further injuries. Karel Abraham had to retire from the race due to a mechanical problem.
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.
Managing Director for RTR Sports, Riccardo graduated in law at the University of Bologna. He began his career in London in PR, then started working in two and four-wheelers. A brief move to Monaco followed before returning to Italy. There he founded RTR, first a consulting firm and then a sports marketing company which, eventually, he moved back to London.
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Read MoreIn 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.
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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