Earlier this year in August, there were some rumours regarding MV Agusta planning to take part in MotoGP, the premier motorcycle racing championship. The rumours were a result of speculation due to the presence of Niki Lauda at the MotoGP event in Brno. Niki Lauda is the non-executive chairman for the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team and Mercedes AMG which currently owns 25% stake in MV Agusta. The press release from MV Agusta last week confirms MV Agusta’s plan to enter MotoGP in the near future. Contrary to the earlier rumours, MV Agusta announced that the MotoGP team would be headed by Giovanni Cuzari who currently is the Team Principal of the Forward Racing team at MotoGP.
Giovanni Castiglioni, MV Agusta’s CEO speaking about their MotoGP aspirations said, “We continue to invest in racing because competition has a highly strategic value for our brand. We are victorious in WSS and growing in WSBK, but the goal for our future must be MotoGP.”
Plans are already in place for the coming year, 2016, at the Schiranna factory with the current development team expected to be reinforced with additional resources by the Forward Racing technical staff from MotoGP. The new team would be managed by Giovanni Cuzari, who will take on the role as the MV Agusta Reparto Corse Team Principal. He would be working along with Andrea Quadranti as the Team Manager.
The immensely valuable experience of Cuzari and his technical resources in leading teams in MotoGP and also Moto2 earlier would prove to be very helpful for MV Agusta’s MotoGP efforts. Speaking about his new role, Giovanni Cuzari said. “It is an honour and a privilege for me to work for one of the brands that has built the legend of motorcycling, and I am confident that I will be able to contribute in achieving the goals we have set for ourselves.”
The recent developments at MV Agusta also saw 250cc World Champion Marco Melandri being chosen as the test and development rider for the MV Agusta F4 in the World SBK. This news came as an icing on the cake as Melandri would be getting back on the bike after a gap of four months since he left the Aprilia Gresini MotoGP team mid-season this year.
MV Agusta had a great season in the Supersport class of WSBK with riders such as Jules Cluzel, Alex Baldolini and Lorenzo Zanetti who finished third in the championship with six podiums. This shows how much the Schiranna factory is serious about being a part of motorcycle racing. The legendary manufacturer with 75 championship titles in the past undoubtedly has the racing DNA embedded deep in their machines and the hearts of people behind it.
Nothing is clearly announced about the year in which MV Agusta would venture back into MotoGP yet. It would probably be in 2018 at the earliest. With five different bike manufacturers already in MotoGP, the addition of MV Agusta will be very interesting indeed.