VOL. 52 ISSUE 13 MARCH 31, 2015 P31
ASPAR LOSES TITLE SPONSOR
S
ponsorship woes hit the
headlines at Qatar in the
days before the race, as the As-
par MotoGP team—fielding Nicky
Hayden and class rookie Eugene
Laverty on "Open" production
Hondas—ripped off their Drive
M7 stickers, and announced that
their expected backing had been
cancelled at the last minute.
"We got the information only
two days ago, by email," said team
owner Jorge "Aspar" Martinez,
speaking through an interpreter on
Thursday, the day practice for the
opening round began.
It was the culmination of a
confusing chain of events, after
the team's first invoice to the
Malaysian energy drink spon-
sor was issued in February, but
remained unpaid in March. "Now
they said they will not continue,"
said Martinez.
This was unexpected, be-
cause the original contract,
beginning last season, was for
three years, but there had been
a get-out clause set for last
September, that had not been
exercised at the time.
But the waters were further
muddied by rumors that the team
had known about the poten-
tial withdrawal for some time,
because of the failure to secure
a European distributor for the
energy drink. It was suggested
that the delay in the announce-
ment was to increase the shock
value, and strengthen Aspar's
hand in seeking financial support
from Dorna.
Either way, Martinez revealed
that Dorna's Carmelo Ezpeleta
"is helping me. Next week we
have many meetings, and we
hope to find a new sponsor
before the next race in Texas," in
two weeks.
Aspar is a highly success-
ful team manager, running in
all three classes under various
banners. He joined MotoGP in
2010, and last year switched
from Aprilia to Honda with Drive
M7, running Nicky Hayden and
Hiro Aoyama.
"The results were not good,
but this is not the reason for the
withdrawal," he said. The amount
of the lost sponsorship was
"around two million Euros," ac-
cording to a team spokesman.
The bikes appeared with the
sponsor's name replaced by
"Team Aspar."
Michael Scott
Team Aspar is left without a title
sponsor as Drive M7 withdraws
right before season opener.
STONER IN FOR SUZUKA
C
asey Stoner has decided to
return to racing. The two-time
MotoGP Champion will form part
of Honda's MuSASHi RT HARC-
PRO three person team at this
year's Suzuka 8 Hour race, tak-
ing place on Sunday 26th July.
Stoner joins Honda's World
Superbike rider Michael van der
Mark and HRC test rider Takumi
Takahashi.
"After riding the bike in
Sepang a few months ago, I've
been speaking closely with
Honda about the possibility to
take part in Suzuka," Stoner
said. "It's always been an event
I wanted to do and something I
was never able to consider when
I was racing in MotoGP, due to
our busy schedules, so I'm really
looking forward to taking part.
"The bike is very different to a
MotoGP machine, but it will be
a new challenge and a chance
for me to try something new and
unlike what I've been used to in
my racing to this point. I've been
impressed with Michael van der
Mark this season and Takumi
Takahashi has a lot of experi-
ence on this machine, so I'm
looking forward to hearing their
comments and working together
with them in preparation for the
July race."
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
GOLD
&
GOOSE
