Category: MotoGP

Johann Zarco and Esponsorama Racing made history at the Czech Republic Grand Prix. The Frenchman took the team’s first podium since his debut in the MotoGP class with third place at Brno. Tito Rabat crossed the line in 16th position.

After the pole position achieved during qualifying, Johann Zarco was leading the grid. Despite a bad start and losing five positions, the Esponsorama Racing rider remained in the leading group, even having to take a somewhat strict long lap penalty after an incident with Pol Espargaró on lap nine. In the end Zarco finished in a spectacular third position, which together with yesterday’s pole position, closes a perfect weekend for him and the team.

For his part, Tito Rabat has remained at the door of the points zone. The Spanish rider has done a great performance during the whole weekend, going from less to more. After a difficult start, Rabat squeezed his Ducati Desmosedici GP19 to climb positions, but finally crossed the finish line in 16th.

After the Czech Republic Grand Prix, where Esponsorama Racing closed their best weekend in 20 years in the MotoGP class, they face the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring – Spielberg circuit next week.

“Fantastic day today, even better than yesterday’s pole position, because a podium means that the race was good. The race was really tough, I didn’t have a good start and it’s a shame because the first five laps I could go faster than Morbidelli did but I had to fight with the group and it was a little bit hard for me. Then I had some contacts but after that I could overtake Fabio and I was well in third position and then I had the penalty because of this contact and the long lap. When I got the information I want to do it immediately to don’t lose my concentration and when I saw that no one overtook me during the long lap I got like a second breathe to catch the podium and thinking ‘if I push well I can be third’ and I was focused on maybe catch Morbidelli. At the end Rins made me to be scared because he was coming strong but in the last sector I could manage well the corners to keep him behind. I’m incredibly happy for the team, thanks to Ducati for the investment they are doing and happy to offer this podium to my team.”

“After yesterday’s qualifying we had a good starting position, but in the first corner I stayed inside and lost a lot of positions. It has been a difficult day because it was difficult to find the pace, but despite this I was able to recover some positions. I want to congratulate Johann and the whole team. Thank you all for your support and see you in Austria.”

Esponsorama Racing completed a brilliant qualifying session at the Czech Republic Grand Prix, where Johann Zarco took the pole position and Tito Rabat 15th.

The French rider, who showed a great pace all weekend with his Ducati Desmosedici GP19, managed to qualify directly in Q2. During the qualifying session, after setting a time of 1’55.687, Zarco was able to beat his rivals despite Fabio Quartararo’s crash during his last lap, who came at +0.191, which would not have improved the Esponsorama Racing rider’s time, achieving the team’s first pole position since its debut in MotoGP.

Tito Rabat has finished in a meritorious 15th position after the great evolution he has shown since yesterday. The rider from Barcelona will fight from the first lap to climb positions and obtain the best possible result in the race.

Tomorrow at 14:00 the Czech Republic Grand Prix race will start, which, after the successful qualifying session, the team faces with great expectations.

The Esponsorama Racing team would like to apologise for the impression it may have made through the television images celebrating the crash of Fabio Quartararo. The team expressed its great joy at how incredibly close it was to achieving its first pole position since its debut in the MotoGP class in 20 years. Again we would like to apologise to Fabio Quartararo and Yamaha Petronas. Vive la France!

“Fantastic Saturday here in Czech Republic. A surprise for many people and even for me. The pole position is amazing. Friday I was performing well and with the new tyres I was much better than in Jerez, and we confirm it today. I’m enjoying a lot and I’m so happy for the team to offer them this pole position and also happy for me that it’s a very good sign for all what I’m learning and all what I’m doing with the bike. Tomorrow is a good chance to have a good race.”

“First of all I want to congratulate Johann and the team. We had a good day today and we’ve been setting times that are closer to ‘pole’ every time. I have a good feeling, we are getting closer and better session after session, trying new things. The positive thing is that we have seen that we can be on top and keep working to follow this upward line.”

The Hublot Reale Avintia Racing Team passed the first day of free practice at the Jerez-Ángel Nieto Circuit with good feelings.

In the first free practice session, Johann Zarco finished in 14th position, less than a second behind the leader, and Tito Rabat was 19th. Both were able to have a new contact with the Andalusian track four days after the celebration of the Spanish Grand Prix race.

Looking ahead to the second free practice, Zarco demonstrated the potential of the Ducati Desmosedici GP19 and finished the session in second position after setting a time of 1:37.970, just a tenth of a second slower than the first classified. Tito Rabat, meanwhile, had to settle for 14th position after crashing out on the last timed lap, on which he had been improving his best time.

Tomorrow morning at 9:55 the action will return to the track, when the third free practice session of the MotoGP class will take place. At 14:10 the qualifying session will take place, in which the order of the grid for the Andalusian Grand Prix race will be decided.

“So, the first day here for de second grand prix has been good. This afternoon I improved a little bit my lap time compared to the morning one. I got a little crash, but I was trying to find some new limits and to crash was not a problem, it was almost good to understand where I can push or not. So, positive day, tomorrow will be especially important to find the time-attack in FP3 to have the chance to go straight to Q2 and then have the best qualifying as possible. The performance is coming better and now I need to stay focused.”

“It’s been a positive day. In the morning, with the soft front tyre I didn’t do very well, but in the afternoon we tried some modifications and it went a little better. I’m satisfied and now we’ll see if we can continue in this direction and improve a little more. I’m sure that if we continue on this path it will go well”.

The motorcycle world championship doesn’t rest. After the Spanish Grand Prix last week, the Hublot Reale Avintia Racing Team will be competing this weekend in the second race of the season at the Jerez-Ángel Nieto Circuit in a row.

As was already seen during the Spanish Grand Prix, it will be a very tough weekend for the riders, who will have to endure temperatures close to 40 degrees Celsius and 60 degrees on the track.

Tito Rabat and Johann Zarco, who finished in point positions in the previous race, face a new week of competition with hunger and ambition to get a result that shows the true potential of the team.

This Friday the riders will be back on their Ducati Desmosedici GP19s for the first free practice, where the Hublot Reale Avintia Racing Team will start a Grand Prix of Andalucia with high expectations.

“After the last weekend, we got a lot of experience, a good first contact. Now, we start from a very good base, from which we will focus on polishing details of my riding, as there are not new pieces to try, so we are lucky to be able to focus on polishing small things to improve yourself”

“I’m happy to be again at the same circuit, I learnt many things on the Ducati so repeating at the same track, for me, I think is useful, because I will see if the work I do with the team will be good or not. I think the step I will do this week is very important, to also prepare for the next race in Czech Republic. Next race will be hot again, around 40 degrees all the weekend, but we are ready for the next one and I know now which is the sector I need to work.”

The Hublot Reale Avintia Racing Team started the season at the Jerez-Ángel Nieto Circuit with a good result from Johann Zarco and Tito Rabat, who crossed the line in 11th and 14th position respectively.

The French rider, who started the race in a late position due to a crash during the qualifying session, made a great comeback that allowed him to score his first points with the Hublot Reale Avintia Racing Team. From the start, Zarco showed a superior pace to his rivals and in the third lap he was already in the points, where he kept on going until he finished the race just one place away from the top ten.

For his part, Tito Rabat has had a somewhat complicated start to his career. The Barcelona-based rider, who started one place ahead of his teammate, was relegated to last position in the early stages of the race. Despite this, Tito managed to recover positions until he reached 14th, thus adding the first two points of the season for him.

Next weekend the Grand Prix of Andalucia will be held at the same track in Jerez, where the Hublot Reale Avintia Racing Team will once again have the opportunity to show the team’s potential and fight for the top positions.

The Hublot Reale Avintia Racing Team started the season at the Jerez-Ángel Nieto Circuit with a good result from Johann Zarco and Tito Rabat, who crossed the line in 11th and 14th position respectively.

“I’m happy to finish the race and it was very important because it’s a long time since I did not finish a race, almost ten months, and this means that step by step I can comeback I can comeback to the high level. I understood many things during the race and many things that I can ask to Ducati to find a better feeling and better pace during the race. I expected to be faster, but it was too difficult to go to 38s and I was every lap doing 39s and this did not help me to catch the guys in front. I’m happy to be here again next week, it would be useful to improve myself and to have a clear target and to see if I can make well my work and work well with the team.”

“During the first laps of the race we had a lot of fun. After the start we followed the race group, then Smith was lagging behind and I got off the group. From here I tried to shoot despite having problems with the front axle, it was really difficult to go faster. It was a long race, I have been cutting back a little bit lap by lap the group of Zarco that was my first objective, although we could not achieve it. Looking ahead to next weekend we will work to improve the feeling with the front end”

The prestigious Swiss watch brand Hublot joins the team as a new main sponsor for the current season.

As a result of the great effort of all the members of the Hublot Reale Avintia Racing Team that this year ended with the incorporation of the team as a satellite structure of Ducati with the improvement of the bikes and the technical team of ‘La Fábrica de Borgo Panigale’, now Hublot joins to continue growing together with our riders Tito Rabat and Johann Zarco.

The Hublot Reale Avintia Racing Team will launch a new image on the Ducati Desmosedici GP19 at the start of this season. The team is saying goodbye to the blue that has accompanied it during these last years giving way to a black one that will make the Ducati a new, beautiful and elegant bike.

After long meetings and a lot of effort on the part of all those involved, the Andorra Circuit is reopening its facilities to the professional riders resident in the Principality of Andorra for training, coinciding with phase 2 of the deconfinement plan.

This situation would not have been possible without the cooperation and collaboration of the Government of Andorra and the efforts of the Ministries of Sport, Economy and Health.

The Automobile Club of Andorra, the Andorran Motorcyclist Federation and the unconditional sponsorship of Crèdit Andorrà, who have believed in the project from the beginning, have also made it possible. Raúl Romero (owner of the Reale Avintia Racing Team and investor of the Andorran Circuit), Rubén Xaus (promoter of the Andorran project) and Alex Bercianos (director of the facility) have also helped to achieve this.

The excellent management of the health crisis by the Andorran government has meant that the 22 professional motorcycle riders (9 of whom are MotoGP riders) resident in Andorra will be able to get back on their machines and resume training immediately. These will be marked by an anti-contamination protocol validated by computer biologist Joel López. The training sessions will be divided into two groups and different time slots to avoid having more than 10 riders training.

The layout designed by the specialized company Racing Loop will be especially technical and that, together with the height of the Circuit, will make it physically demanding.

Rubén Xaus commented on the possibility that the MotoGP riders could restart the season at the Andorra Circuit: “The circuit and all its members are very proud to take another step, which will undoubtedly serve the resident riders, to prepare an atypical start to the world championship.”

Reale Avintia Racing returned to action from February 22^nd to 24th at the Losail International Circuit for the final pre-season MotoGP test. The team continued to work on the evolution of the Ducati Desmosedici GP19 and completed three very productive and useful days.

Johann Zarco was able to continue working on the adaptation and set-up with his Ducati for 2020. During the three days, the French rider managed to complete a total of 186 laps, almost 1000 kilometres. In the combined classification, Zarco finished in 14th position and the best time was set in Saturday’s session with 1:54.565.

Tito Rabat continued with the set-up work and improved his feeling on the Ducati. The Spanish rider clocked almost 920 kilometres thanks to the 170 laps accumulated over the three days of testing. Rabat set his best time on the third day with 1:54.674 and finished 17th in the combined.

With the end of the test in Losail, the Reale Avintia Racing puts an end to the preseason. Next March 6th, the 2020 season will start in the same track on the occasion of the Qatar Grand Prix.

“It was a positive test. It will be a hard-fought championship as we are all in the same second. On the one hand, satisfied with the time, we have to improve lap by lap. We have to stay calm and keep working day by day as we are doing. I begin to have ideas about the structure of how to drive this Ducati to go fast. Now to recover and go back to Qatar at full speed for the race.”

“It has been a good test. Compared to Malaysia I had a better control of the bike and when the tyres are new, I can get a good lap time. The third day I cannot improve the second day time because I’ve been working in other things, sometimes we have small problems that don’t help us to continue with the plan that we have. I’m happy with the test and I can’t wait for the first race.”

The Reale Avintia Racing Team presented yesterday the Ducati Desmosedici GP19, the KTM Moto3 and the Enérgica Ego Corsa MotoE with which it will compete in the 2020 season, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the team, in front of hundreds of people who came to the Hard Rock Café Andorra.

Fans were able to come and get autographs and photos with Tito Rabat and Johann Zarco, Carlos Tatay and Xavi Cardelús, the team’s new riders for 2020. Eric Granado could not be present as he is in Brazil preparing for next season. They also enjoyed an exceptional and dizzying show from Ducati’s official stunt rider, Emilio Zamora.

The Reale Avintia Racing Team is very motivated and expectant to face this new exciting season, in which the whole team will work hard and in the same direction to reach all the objectives and achieve the greatest possible success.

With the conclusion of the third day at the Sepang International Circuit, the first pre-season test of 2020 for the Reale Avintia Racing Team has come to an end. After three intense and productive days of testing, team and riders were able to gather various data that will help the development and evolution of the Ducati Desmosedici GP19.

During the three sessions, Johann Zarco completed his first kilometres on his new Ducati. The French rider has been able to work on several configurations and on the adaptation and development of his bike. On the last day of the test, Zarco set a time of 1:58.951, more than a second and a half faster than his best time on Friday, after a total of 42 laps to the Malaysian circuit.

Tito Rabat stopped the clock in 1:59.549 after completing 59 laps, one second and two tenths of a second faster than his best time on Friday. In the final moments of the day the rain arrived to Sepang and he was forced to put an early end to the test. Throughout the three days the Spanish rider, step by step, worked on the adaptation to the tyres and was able to try new settings that allowed him to finish with good feelings.

The Reale Avintia Racing Team is now heading to the final pre-season test at Losail, which will take place from the 22nd to the 24th of February, two weeks before the start of the 2020 season at the same circuit.

“It’s been a good test. The first day was a little bit difficult. I think I can be faster, I still have to learn new things, but at the end of the third day I am happy because I see that the method I am following works well and with time I will be able to learn more. The bike has a lot of acceleration and I need to take advantage of it. I can’t wait to arrive to Qatar because we have three more days to improve and prepare for the start of the season. It is difficult to learn new things, but I feel prepared and I am very motivated.”

“We have been improving progressively during these three days, it has been a good test. We have to improve on the braking, but anyway I’m happy with the team and now the most important thing is to analyse the data collected and rest in order to reach 100% for the test at Losail.”