Fortuna Aprilia Presentation
FORTUNA APRILIA TEAM OFFICIALLY PRESENT THEIR PLANS
FOR THE 2006 SEASON
The FORTUNA APRILIA team today made an official presentation
of their plans for the upcoming 250cc World Championship,
which begins with the Spanish Grand Prix on the 26th March
at Jerez de la Frontera. The event was attended by Samuel
Eto’o, just hours after taking victory with FC Barcelona
in their Champions League match against Chelsea in London.
“My favourite rider for the title? These two”,
commented the Cameroon forward. The presentation took place
this lunchtime at the Hotel Gran Meliá Palace in Palma
de Mallorca. In front of the expectant press corps, Héctor
Barberá and Jorge Lorenzo unveiled the new APRILIA
RSW250 machine that they will ride in each of the sixteen
rounds of the 250cc series in 2006. Following the preseason
tests carried out by the squad, Team Fortuna Aprilia will
be back on track next Wednesday and Thursday at the Circuit
de Catalunya for the first official IRTA Test of 2006.
Jorge Lorenzo, Fortuna Aprilia Team rider
“I think I’m amongst the favourites this year
but predictions and favourable odds count for nothing if you
don’t go out there and prove them right every day. I’m
just preparing to be the best and from there we will see who
our rivals are and which riders can make things difficult
for us in the races. For now I prefer to concentrate on myself
and just try to go as fast as possible. I’m in a team
with aspirations of winning the world title. We are one of
the most professional outfits in the World Championship paddock
and we will be expected to give our best in every race.”
Héctor Barberá, Fortuna Aprilia Team
rider
“My goal is to become World Champion. The way to achieve
that is to improve every day and enjoy myself on the bike.
If the good results arrive then we can start to look at my
rivals and come up with the best strategy to achieve the dream
of every rider. I’m really excited about this year and
I can’t wait to work and to make progress. When you
are running up at the front everybody wants to help out so
I aim to be competitive from the first session at Jerez.”
Dani Amatriaín, Fortuna Aprilia Team Director
“I want to thank the Balearic Government for the facilities
they have put on for us to host this event in Palma de Mallorca.
It is an important day because we are starting a new project,
this time as the official factory Aprilia team, which will
allow us to be competitive and fight for the World Championship
title. Thanks to the support of Fortuna and Lotus this entire
project has taken on a dimension which makes it one of the
most competitive in the world.”
Carmen Abella, Director of Sponsorship for Altadis
“This is our fourth season of partnership with Dani
Amatriaín and I say partnership because of the close
relationship we have, which goes much further than mere sponsorship,
and is crucial to the success of a project like this. We are
very happy to have the support of Grupo Piaggio and their
many excellent professionals, who will provide our riders
Jorge Lorenzo and Héctor Barberá with the best
possible material.”
Giampiero Sacchi, Aprilia Racing Sporting Manager
“We are at the start of a great project and we want
to lend our support to the great job being done by Dani’s
team. It is an enormous satisfaction to have Jorge and Héctor
back with Piaggio, after Jorge began his career with Derbi
and Héctor with Aprilia. We hope this adventure brings
much success.”
Antonio Calderón, Marketing Director for Lotus
“We are part of a winning team and on behalf of the
Festina group we believe we have the best partners in place
to fight for the world title. Now we just have to play it
in an intelligent way.”
Rosa Puig, Councillor for Sport in the Balearic Community
“Sportsmen like Jorge are the fruit of a lot of hard
work, of which we feel very proud. Elite sportsmen such as
him are an example for the Balearic youth and we will continue
to help them achieve their objectives.”
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