Camel MotoGP Racing
Geneva 20 December 2005
Over the last three years, Camel together with Honda and
the Honda Pons Team have achieved many successes in the premier
class of the World Road Racing Championship. However, recent
differences of opinion with the Japanese manufacturer concerning
the choice of riders has meant that the 2006 project, in which
Max Biaggi was planned to ride for the Camel team, has not
been able to take off.
Japan Tobacco International, proprietor of the Camel brand,
considers the veto against the rider as unjustified from many
points of view, and has thus decided to break off relationships
in MotoGP with Honda and with the Pons team.
Since the last world championship race, a number of opportunities
with other manufacturers were examined and negotiations started
to make the project with Max Biaggi a reality. Although carried
out with great determination, none of these came to fruition
and it has become apparent that this objective simply cannot
be achieved.
In order to ensure continuity of the strategy for the Camel
brand, JT International is thus considering a series of alternatives.
“We put considerable energy and great determination
into the MotoGP project with Max, even when it became quite
clear that this could not be done with Honda,” commented
Mr. Roberto Zanni, President of Japan Tobacco International
Europe, “but in the end it proved impossible. The obstacles
we found ourselves up against were various, decisive and,
in a sense, inexplicable. It seems that the sporting spirit,
which has always been part of motorcycle racing and which
has given the public its great passion for this sport, had
suddenly disappeared. It is this passion for sport which,
on the contrary, remains a driving force for our Group, the
philosophy on which we have based all our activities in the
world of motorsport.
“I should like to express my sincere gratitude to all
those who have contributed to our success in our first three
years in the MotoGP,” continued Mr. Roberto Zanni, “my
thanks go to Honda and to Sito Pons, the owner of the team
flying the Camel colours. I thank all our riders and, in particular,
Max Biaggi, whom I would have liked to see back on the track
with us. Our successes and the excitement we have shared have
been, and still are an enormous incitement for our Group.
They are landmarks in the history of Camel’s involvement
in the world of racing and, precisely for this reason, they
must continue.”
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