2023-11-27 19:53:06
Officially, it has not been decided to which new owner the MotoGP Selection Committee (consisting of FIM, IRTA and Dorna) will hand over the CryptoDATA-RNF-Aprilia, which is in the process of being dissolved. But according to SPEEDWEEK.com’s research, 42-year-old Justin Marks, an American racer, entrepreneur and current owner of Trackhouse Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series, is in a strong position to become the new MotoGP team owner with an Aprilia customer team .
On the Monday following the World Cup final in Valencia, in which the RNF Aprilia driver Raúl Fernández achieved his best result in the “premier class” with 5th place, a change was already taking place in the previous RNF team. The entire technical crew was still present, but they were no longer wearing the team uniform; there was probably nothing left to remind them of the previous owners. That’s why Aprilia distributed dozens of T-shirts with the inscription “Aprilia Racing”. “We only have three sets of team uniforms and they are all dirty following four days,” said one team member. “That’s why Aprilia dressed us…”
The current RNF employees will not be working on Tuesday because they are still under contract with RNF. The Aprilia Test Team will look following Fernández.
Aprilia Racing terminated the contract with the RNF team on Monday evening. The CryptoDATA RNF team operated with a budget of 11.6 million euros this year. The racing company RNF Racing Limited is heavily in debt.
But the RNF team is not in the chalk at Aprilia Racing. Because Dorna transferred the usual customer team grants of 5 million euros directly to Noale, which largely covered the leasing and material costs.
The trucks and the hospitality and the pit decoration presented the stickers with the previous sponsors on Monday. By the way: The former Petronas-Yamaha team, from which the WithU-Yamaha team emerged in 2022 and the CryptoDATA-RNF team in 2023, will experience a change of ownership and new backers for the fourth time in a row in 2024. And appear once more in a new design!
That’s why the trucks and the hospitality were painted matt in British Racing Green in 2022 and only a few sponsor names were stuck on them.
CryptoDATA CEO Ovidiu Toma has announced a legal dispute with World Championship promoter Dorna Sports SL following Drna’s announcement on Monday that he had lost his two MotoGP slots.
Ovidiu Tomas’ 60 percent share in RNF Racing has suddenly become pretty worthless today. The same applies to the 40 percent of RNF that the deposed team principal Razali Razali holds.
In any case, this planned change of ownership is a delicate matter.
Striking: The Dorna TV commentators on motogp.com stubbornly ignored the topic of “RNF Aprilia Future” last weekend. The sensitive topic was also not mentioned on motogp.com, Dorna’s online platform.
Tomorrow only Rául Fernández will test for the Aprilia satellite team. For the first time, he will be driving two RS-GP23s, like those used by Aleix Espargaró and Maverick Viñales last season.
By the way, Miguel Oliveira longingly wants an Aprilia RS-GP24 for the coming season. His father Paulo Oliveira negotiated this with Aprilia at the weekend. Aleix Espargaró also wants such a scenario. “Because we can then exchange more data if identical bikes are used in the satellite team,” he explained.
“In terms of spare parts supply and logistics, a system with four riders on identical motorcycles would be advantageous,” says Paolo Bonora, Race Manager at Aprilia Racing. “I know Miguel wants that. But nothing has been decided for us yet.”
Of course, higher leasing fees would be charged for factory machines of the latest vintage than for this year’s used motorcycles from the previous year.
The new owner must therefore decide very quickly whether he wants to hand over the additional investment to Aprilia.
By the way: Aprilia Racing has been developing a new carbon chassis for a year now, and test driver Lorenzo Savadori will test drive it for two hours during his lunch break tomorrow, Tuesday. Apart from these two hours, the Italian will not be in the saddle because his technical crew will be looking following regular rider Raúl Fernández.
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