MV Agusta and their dream of MotoGP: That is why it can come true

Since the Castiglioni family brought back the MV Agusta brand and put it back on the sides of the motorcycles assembled in Varese, it was the 90s, it couldn’t help looking toward Schiranna in the hope of seeing again the red-silver motorcycles run in the most important international competitions. MV August has already entered into the Superbike world a short time ago; but now, they are aiming at a bigger goal: the MotoGP. And this time, MV can really go back to the division in which they have prevailed for a long time (75 world-champion titles among racers and manufacturer). Let’s see why.

NEWS 1 – CUZARI – The road to get there used to be and still is long, but in these very days a notable progress is being made near the lake of Varese. In fact, MV Agusta has just communicated two very important pieces of news. The first one concerns a manager, Giovanni Cuzari, who is now the head of the Forward Racing team, which compete with two racers both in MotoGP (Bradl and Baz, on Yamaha) and in Moto2 (Corsi and Baldassari on Kalex). By 2016, Cuzari, who will keep his structure in MotoGP, will become also the team principal of the MV Agusta Racing Department, which is currently the official team occupied in the Superbike and Supersport championship.

NEWS 2 – MELANDRI – At the same time, MV Agusta agreed with a well-known Italian racer (even thought he is less famous than some years ago) on making several tests in view of 2016. We are talking about the 33-year-old Marco Melandri, born in Ravenna, who is a former 250cc World Champion in 2002. “Macho” will probably be the consultant in the development of the motorbike on the F4RC saddle, by the end of the year. In theory, his task will end here and any other market proposals will cease after his commitment in Schiranna, but it is normal to think there will be the right conditions (sponsor, competitive motorbike, racer motivations…); it doesn’t mean that something more will come from the agreement.

THE SCOOP: MOTOGP STARTING FROM 2017 – And here we are: the most interesting part, which explains these autumn movements. MV Agusta does not conceal anymore their wish to participate in the MotoGP, starting from the championship in 2017, in other words, the day after tomorrow. Also the head of the team, Giovanni Castiglioni, confirmed it: “Competitions have a very high strategic importance for our brand; we are successful in Supersport, in growing in Superbike but our future has to aim at MotoGP.

THE SCENARIO – Castiglioni himself, less than two years ago, declared to VareseNews these words, as the answer to the question of a possible participation in MotoGP. “No, I exclude that, because to a company such as ours there is no point in participating in that championship. Not considering the costs, which will decrease in MotoGP and, however, also in Superbike are a lot, in this way we can develop the motorbikes that will be available for sales, and it is what we aim at.”

So, what happened that caused such a drastic change in the mind of the young president of MV? Basically, starting from 2017, the Dorna, which is a Spanish company that supervises the MotoG, will enter into force new rules that provide six official companies that will show to have a suitable team and a project in order to participate in the main motoring competition with a guaranteed place in MotoGP (and important facilitations and funds). Among these, the current stars of MotoGP, which are Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki and Ducati, are already sure.  Two places would be left, and for those we could think, at first, about Kawasaki and Ktm but the Japanese green motorbike, at the moment, is more interested in Superbike. And so MV moved ahead by training with the Cuzari Forward Racing in order to have a finished structure in MotoGP. However, starting from 2017, even the technical regulations will be more “flexible” and accessible to an important but not rich and big company, in comparison with the Japanese ones, like MV Agusta.

2016 – Between now and then there is, however, a season in the middle, that of 2016, in which MV Agusta will be at the start of Superbike and Supersport championship: in the first one the path was a bit difficult, instead, in the second one results have been reached. Lorenzo Zanetti, from Brescia, with one second and five third places, finishes the MotoGP with a third place; his French teammate Jules Cluzel, who was stopped by an injury, arrived forth (he missed the last three competitions) and collected three victories, four second places and six pole position. He is a leader in his category. The red-silver racers are confirmed, in theory, for 2016, but as for all sports the “market” can be full of surprises. MV Agusta guaranteed their participation in Superbike with a motorbike (in 2015 assigned to Leon Camier). Perhaps, if we think about Melandri, it will be more appropriate to say “with at least one motorbike”.