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By Riccardo Tafà| Posted June 18, 2018 | In MotoGP, MotoGP
Will the Marquez-Lorenzo Dream Team kill MotoGP in 2019?
Is the “Dream Team” a good thing for MotoGP?
The signing of Lorenzo for the working Honda HRC Team has struck the paddock like a lightning two weeks ago. I had the time to digest it and I am sharing a couple of consideration because I am wondering about the health of MotoGP. I consider MotoGP the most entertaining and thrilling category of all motorsports, 4 wheels included.
The continuous overtaking, the acrobatic maneuvers, the speed and the possibility for many different riders to win races make this sport a gem to be preserved and, to tell you the truth, I fear the arrival of the “dream team”. Obviously, I must congratulate Honda Repsol that have put together what, according to the numbers, is possibly the strongest lineup ever.
The numbers
Marc Marquez, who is only 25 years old, has already won 6 world championship: 125 in 2010, Moto2 in 2012 and MotoGP in 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017. Jorge Lorenzo who is 31 years old is a five-time world champion: in 2006 and 2007 he was crowned the winner of the 250cc, and he became MotoGP champion in 2010, 2012 and 2015.
So with the exception of the happily retired Casey Stoner, who won the world championship in 2011, the last seven championships have been snatched by one of the two components of this Honda dream team. Honestly, 2018 doesn’t look any different.
The present season
In this 2018 Marquez and a revived Lorenzo, who now comes from two victories, ride different bikes: Honda and Ducati. Adding variables as putting the two best riders on different equipment is most likely to add spice to the races. The crowd loves to watch fierce competition and plenty of overtaking and they like uncertainty.
My personal experience in F1
I fondly remember the F1 years dominated in the late 80s by an invincible McLaren Team whose drivers answered to the names of Senna and Prost. In 1989 they were spectacular. They were fast, they won all but one race and they killed the championship, making it rather boring: you knew before the race started that one of the red and white cars were going to win it.
However Prost and Senna champions like no others, both wanted to win and the situation was therefore tense. Then, the drama came afterward and we all remember the famous accident between the two at Suzuka in 1989 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa51oAiH-lA that led to Prost eventually winning the championship and leaving McLaren to Ferrari.
And again the following season we watched the same accident in Suzuka, that time Prost on a Ferrari and Senna still on a McLaren https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JknW7h8DS0s this time with Senna World Champion.
I am saying it, because apart from them, in those years there weren’t other combination of drivers and cars capable of winning and only the charisma and rivalry of those two giants of motorsport saved the show and the entire Circus when they both shared the cars from Woking.
Looking to the future
Next year, I hope that a quick Ducati and an improved Yamaha will guarantee to all of us the possibility to enjoy some great races; I do not want to think that we need a big rivalry, dangerous on two wheels, to keep alive the interest of the championship. We have already witnessed some tense moments in the past and, quite frankly, dangerous riding is not what should make this sport entertaining.
On the other hand, if I were the team manager of HRC, I would have done the same thing because you have to seize the moment if you can offer a 5-time World Champion a saddle.
To sum it up
I do not want to belittle the rest of the grid and I hope that KTM, Suzuki, Aprilia, Yamaha, and Ducati will push even more on R&D to give to their riders the most competitive bike ever.
youBut numbers don’t lie and I believe that we are going to witness a spectacular rivalry between Marc Marquez and Jorge Lorenzo in the next few years.
If you would like to have a chat about MotoGP we can always be reached at info@rtrsporst.com
Riccardo Tafà
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 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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