All posts tagged fausto gresini
Niccolò Antonelli to ride for Gresini Moto3 team
Fausto Gresini has decided to field teenager (he’s just 15) Niccolò Antonelli as one of his riders next season in the inaugural Moto3 GP championship.
Niccolò is the son of former Italian CIV rider Igor Antonelli, who also had a couple of wildcard rides in 125cc and 250cc class back in the late ’90s and the youngster is also this year’s 125cc CIV champion winning the title in the last race of the season at Mugello by pipping Romano Fenati by just 0.019s and two points.
Gresini said he chose Antonelli because “he’s a very promising rider that dreams like Marco [Simoncelli] did.”
Michele Pirro confirmed as Gresini Racing's CRT rider
It’s hard to forget Michele Pirro’s first ever and emotional victory during the final 2011 Moto2 race at Valencia that made Fausto Gresini break down in tears and Pirro dedicate the win to the late Marco Simoncelli, now the Italian rider who hails from Puglia, will continue his collaboration with Gresini, but will be switching to MotoGP and ride Gresini’s CRT bike, a FTR Honda, while team mate Alvaro Bautista will be on the Honda RC213V prototype.
“I’m satisfied to have made this choice and proud to participate with Team San Carlo Honda Gresini in this interesting adventure,” said Pirro. “It wasn’t an easy decision to make because in the beginning I would have preferred to stay in Moto2 and improve on this year’s results, but Fausto Gresini’s growing confidence in me in the final part of season left me in no doubts on the choice I should make. I’m honoured to continue to be part of this fantastic group and to work with them to help develop this ambitious future for MotoGP. I hope to repay their confidence in me with results and a growing technical development in this stimulating enterprise.”
“We thought it was right with such a new project like CRT, to give Michele Pirro the opportunity to further demonstrate his talent. In the final part of the 2011 Moto2 championship he showed his technical and sportmanship qualities and we think he can continue to improve and we also believe that in this new category he can become one of the main players. His beautiful and memorable victory at Valencia made everyone emotional, and made us more aware of wanting him to take part in this fascinating new adventure. We’re an Italian team and having an Italian rider is important for us and the choice to carry out this project with Michele is also the result of these strong feelings,” said Fausto Gresini.
Fausto Gresini: "Sic? Irreplaceable"
Fausto Gresini was at the the Bologna Motor Show yesterday, a guest at the Gazzetta dello Sport stand and the naturally the interview was about his late rider, Marco Simoncelli and how difficult the Italian manager finds the motivation to continue.
“It ’s always difficult because even if it seems that a lot of time has past since Sepang, infact it’s been very little and the wound is still open. It’s clear that life must go on, you have to react, raise your head. You have to raise your head and start to fight because that’s what Marco would have wanted. However there’s a very deep emptiness and sorrow because the pain of this tragedy will always be with us.”
That said, we have a lot of things to do, but I don’t feel the same as before. I’ve always loved bikes, but right now I can not love them as before, because I feel as if I’ve been betrayed. I still have to get over it and it’s a bit hard. But I have many fond memories of Marco, I like to think of him as he was, always sunny and positive, never angry. Deespite his young age, he taught us many things that we’ll treasure in our future. He was a guy who was able to communicate and he knew how to fight, win and lose always with the same smile. He was a true sportsman and I’d like to remember him that way. The only thing that he had missed was a victory. “
Fausto Gresini announces his teams will race at Valencia in memory of Super Sic
Team owner Fausto Gresini has announced that both his teams will race at the upcoming Valencia GP. There had been some doubt whether MotoGP rider Hiroshi Aoyama and Moto2 riders Michele Pirro and Yuki Takahashi would be competing this weekend, however the Italian manager has decided to have them race to honour Marco Simoncelli and not only attend as he previously stated.
“The decision to participate was not an easy one, but we have made this choice as it is what Marco would have wanted. Going out on track at Valencia is definitely the best way to honour him by doing what he most loved to do: Ride and experience the world of MotoGP.
“This is why I believe that the best show of affection that we can make to Marco is by lining up our teams and riders for this race. ‘Super Sic’ will be present in the hearts of Hiroshi Aoyama, Michele Pirro and Yuki Takahashi, and I am sure that they will give him a most fitting tribute with their performances on Sunday,” said Gresini.
Team Gresini will attend Valencia GP
Yesterday, Fausto Gresini was quoted by several Italian media sources that he would not take his MotoGP and Moto2 teams to Valencia to take part in the final event of the season.
Apparently the Italian team manager who has lost two riders in tragic racing accidents, has had a change of heart or the outpouring of messages from thousands of fans who wish to pay their last tribute to Marco Simoncelli during the Valencia GP may have have convinced the stricken manager to change his mind.
The entire team will be at the Spanish circuit will be at the Valencian circuit the beginning of November and display Simoncelli’s # 58 Honda in their garage.
Fausto Gresini has yet to decide if Hiroshi Aoyama, Michele Pirro and Yuki Takahashi will take part in their respective races. According to the official Motogp website the team may make that announcement tomorrow morning or wait until after the funeral services that will be held on Thursday.
Source | motogp.com
MotoGP Jerez: Marco Simoncelli and Fausto Gresini slam marshals
Marco Simoncelli seemed to be on his way to his first MotoGP win at Jerez de la Frontera opening up a big gap between himself and the rest of the field, but on the 12th lap on the tricky turn 1, the bushy haired Italian lost the front on his Gresini Honda and crashed out
The disappointment was evident, but what frustated everyone around was the behaviour and the lack of assistence by the marshals who didn’t help Simoncelli nor Casey Stoner enough to get back on track and try to re-join the race.
“I am really disappointed! said Simoncelli. “I knew after the first five laps that the tyres were struggling but I managed to hold my advantage over Lorenzo. Unfortunately I lost the front in turn one and the rear came round on me – I tried to get it back under control but I couldn’t manage it. It happens in racing and even though I am disappointed I am also happy to have shown again that I am a contender this year. The most frustrating thing about today though was that I got no help at all from the marshals, unlike other riders today. The bike was okay and if I could have had some help I am sure I could have still had a good race. That is not good but as I said before I showed I can run with the best today and that’s the main thing we’ll take away with us. A major result is around the corner.”
Continue reading: MotoGP Jerez: Marco Simoncelli and Fausto Gresini slam marshals
Fausto Gresini vs Marco Melandri
Fausto Gresini, Team San Carlo Honda Gresini Racing team manager and owner is usually a very patient man and has been almost a father figure to Marco Melandri.
Gresini hired Melandri when the Italian rider was released by Poncharal’s Yamaha Tech3 team at the end of a very tough 2004 season and it looked like that no one was interested in him. It was to Gresini, who Melandri turned to for advice and comfort in his disastrous year with Ducati and it was once again the ‘fatherly’ Gresini who hired Melandri when the Kawasaki-Hayate team folded at the end of the 2009. So it is pretty surprising, for us at least, that Gresini in the usual blah, blah pre-event press release should end up criticizing his rider.
“Melandri is having yet another tough season and I am sorry for him. Our team has tried everything and we have the support of Honda to give him what we think he needs but he is not happy and I am disappointed with that because we think we have done a good job for him. It is always our objective to do well with both riders and to achieve that I think a certain level of positivity and confidence is required. I don’t want to cause controversy but maybe that is what Melandri is missing right now. In the four races that remain we will continue to help him achieve the best possible result in the hope that he can achieve it and then the only thing left will be to wish him luck in his next adventure, which I hope will be a success.”
San Carlo Honda Gresini presents his 'almost' All-Italian Team
The San Carlo Honda Gresini Team’s official presentation took place yesterday at the Telenova studios in Milan, hosted by presenter Franco Bobbiese, during his show Griglia di Partenza ( our readers already know about this show) where Team Manager Fausto Gresini alongside the President of San Carlo introduced his all-Italian ‘dream team’ Marco Melandri and Marco Simoncelli to the world press (and Italian TV viewers last night).
Here’s what everyone said in the usual official press release, but the show was much more interesting with some clowining around and some cute anecdotes by short Marco and tall Marco, including the legendary Giacomo Agostini (via video) advising Simoncelli to take one step at a time after his big highside during the Sepang 2 tests.
Fausto Gresini : “Today was a really special day because a personal dream of mine has been fulfilled - having two top riders contest the MotoGP World Championship with my team and an Italian sponsor like San Carlo. I am proud to represent Italy around the world and I am looking forward to going racing this year - hopefully we can ensure that our flag flies high at circuits all over the world.”
Continue reading: San Carlo Honda Gresini presents his 'almost' All-Italian Team
Hiroshi Aoyama remembers Kato and will race with #7
250cc World Champion Hiroshi Aoyama has decided to debut in the upcoming 2010 MotoGP season with #7. Aoyama had to give up his victory #4 because Andrea Dovizioso already uses the same number and following Chris Vermeulen’s return to WSBK, #7 became available.
Vermeulen was using the number seven in honour of the GP legend Barry Sheene, while Aoyama chose the number to honour the late Daijiro Kato who use to race with #74 and died tragically at Suzuka in 2003 in his second season of MotoGP. Kato was Japan’s last 250cc World Champion in 2001 before Aoyama won the championship this year.
#74 was retired from MotoGP, but Aoyama will use the other digit that composed Kato’s racing number.
Several riders who raced with Kato at Suzuka that year, still display a small #74 on some part of their helmets or bikes or when they race at Motegi, Japan they exhibit the number in his memory.
Since 2007, in the week before the Misano GP, the Dedikato (dedicated to the memory of Daijiro Kato) charity event takes place. Organized by Fausto Gresini of Team Gresini and in collaboration with the city of Misano besides the charity event, a public talk show takes place with numerous GP riders and personalities talking about road safety and racing.
Continue reading: Hiroshi Aoyama remembers Kato and will race with #7
Moto2 - Sito Pons to take Toni Elias to Court?
The Moto2 championship hasn’t even begun and we’ve already got team owners who want to take rogue riders to court.
Speaking to Catalunya Radio, Sito Pons, who unveiled his Pons Kalex prototype today at Valencia, confirmed that he may decide to take Toni Elias to court for breach of contract.
According to the Spanish manager, Elias had already signed a contract to ride for his Moto2 team in 2010, but the Spanish rider reneged on his contract and decided to go to Fausto Gresini’s Moriwaki Moto 2 team, but officially Gresini has yet to announce who will be his two riders and he’s not even sure he’ll have a Moto2 team due to the exorbitant costs.
Gresini has deposited the $25,000 registration fee, invested in the bikes already spending €400.000, but needs a further € 1.400.000 and the Italian team manager for the first time in twelve years is closing his budget in the red.
Source | dailymotos and gpone
Moto2 - Toni Elias changes his mind about Pons
Toni Elias was supposed to have signed with Sito Pons Moto2 team when the Spanish rider couldn’t find a MotoGP who wanted him, has had second thoughts about Pons’s capability of paying his future salary.
Hector Barbera, who rides for the Pons’s PepeWorld Team in 250cc, during the Sepang free practice sat out the first twelve minutes in protest against the Spanish team manager who had not paid his salary and this may be the reason Elias has changed his mind.
Pons who announced at Sepang that he would be using the German Kalex motorcycle prototype has now fallen back on rider Alex Debon to spearhead his new team, while Elias seems to be staying with Fausto Gresini, albeit in the Moto2 team, despite Gresini stating that he has problems finding funds in order to run the two bikes designed by Moriwaki. Budget problems are also the reason that Lucio Cecchinello has abandoned plans to run a team in Moto2.
Today will be the last day for all new Moto2 teams to confirm their partecipation in series by paying a 17.000 euro security deposit and at Valencia GP, we’ll probably have more news about who will be actually be in the series.
Fausto Gresini announces Moto 2 Team
Fausto Gresini of Team San Carlo Honda Gresini has announced that he will set up a team for the new Moto 2 series, that will replace the present 250cc Championship in 2010.
Speaking to Italian website GPOne, the former 2 times 125 cc World Champion turned team manager said: “ Next Friday when I arrive at Mugello, the first thing I’m going to do after speaking to Carmelo Ezpeleta is to enter Moto 2 with a team.”
“At the begining it’s going to be expensive to build a Moto2” added Gresini, “I think that the right price would be what they ask you for an official Aprilia, and obviously the investment is destined to pay off in the future. The most important thing is that the team will have an important image to sell.”
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