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By Riccardo Tafà| Posted November 9, 2014 | In MotoGP
MotoGP world champion Marc Márquez keeps breaking records, even if it’s the last race of the season. After a good start, Márquez stayed third behind Valentino Rossi and a incredible strong Andrea Iannone, who left the first turn as leader. Márquez sticked behind them and overtook first his favorite rival Rossi and later the weakening Iannone. With half the race to go, Márquez took the lead and managed to escape.
It’s the 13th win in one season for the Repsol Honda rider, which theoretically means he topped Mick Doohan’s record of 12th wins in a season. However, it has to be mentioned, that Doohan had less races to compete in, so in percent the aussie legend still has most wins in one season.
Márquez’ biggest rival was, once again, Valentino Rossi. The Polesetter started very well, but fellow countrymen Andrea Iannone could prevail. Sadly Iannone was passed back and made a mistake, that made him go wide. At the end of the race he was listed as 22th and therefor last, after a really strong weekend.
Rossi, however, continued his great performance, despite the difficult conditions given on the track. With half the laps to go, it slightly started to rain, which made it tough for the riders to decided, whether they wanted to keep going with slicks or change the bike. Rossi, along with most of the field, decided to stick with slicks and it showed that it was the right decision. The 9-time world champion crossed the checkered flag as second and with that saved his vice-world champion title.
Dani Pedrosa followed behind him as third. The second Honda rider kept his third qualifying place, after losing two places at the beginning. He surely benefited from a mistake by Jorge Lorenzo, but Valencia had always been a good track for the spaniard. Unfortunately, more than a third place wasn’t possible, but a podium finish surely is a good way to end the season.
After a strong-looking Iannone, the Ducati team thought themself already on the podium, but nearly missed that chance. With Iannone’s mistake, it lay on Dovizioso and Crutchlow to secure a podium finish. Much to the dislike of fans and factory, it wasn’t to be.
Andrea Dovizioso started ahead of his teammate Crutchlow in fourth position and both of them leaded a strong race. They fought hard with each other, but especially the brit seemed to enjoy his last race with the italian bike and was ready to risk a lot. A fifth place was a good result, that gave him and his team a due farewell after a year of hard and not always fruiting work. Dovizioso, who stays with the italian team, finished ahead of him in fourth place.
Behind the two Ducatis, a fight between brothers continued through most of the race. Pol and Aleix Espargaró started as sixth and eleventh, but whereas the younger one lost several places at the beginning, his older brother made his way up. Ultimately, they fought for the second place and the younger one prevailed.
Aleix Espargaró finished the race as seventh and with that, once again, was the best „open“ rider in the field. His main opponent Stefan Bradl finished the last race for 2014 as eighth, with Michele Pirro and rookie Scott Redding completing the Top Ten.
Yonny Hernandez, Jorge Lorenzo and Randy de Puniet had to end the race earlier. De Puniet, who had received a wildcard to test the new Suzuki, struggled with the new bike in almost every training session, so his drop-out wasn’t surprising.
Also Yamaha factory rider Jorge Lorenzo had a tough time feeling comfortable with his M1 and therefor couldn’t attack as he might have wanted. With the slight rain starting, he was the only rider to enter the pits and change his bike. A gamble that hasn’t worked out well, since the track wasn’t wet enough for rain tires.
The spaniard tried to make best out of his wrong choice a few laps, but fastly realized it wasn’t working out. He came back into the pits and finished the race earlier, leaving the informal vice-world champion title to his teammate Rossi.
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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