MV Agusta at Imola!

John Burns
by John Burns

Lately our favorite underdog team to watch in World Superbike/Supersport competition is MV Agusta, another factory that doesn’t let the fact that it’s always on the brink of financial collapse keep it from a good time at the track. We made it to Imola via Bein Sport broadcast, where it was good to see Leon Camier snag a 5th place in the second race, following a 6th in race one – beaten really only by the mighty factory Kawasaki and Ducati teams.

Meanwhile in World Supersport, Jules Cluzel, who gave MV its first win two years ago at Phillip Island since Giacomo Agostini’s last one 37 years prior, finished second, and lies third in championship points behind a pair of Kawasakis. Cluzel won the Thai round in March. Hah! That’s Cluzel in the lead photo on his F3 675 triple.

Cluzel on the left, winner Sofuoglu, and big congratulations to American PJ Jacbosen, who finished third on a Honda!

What was really nice, though, was the team rolling out a Senna replica F4 in honor of the great Formula 1 champion, who lost his life at Imola May 1, 1994.

MV Agusta Press Release:

The iconic Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola (IT) hosted the fifth round of the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship this Sunday, and it was the home race for MV Agusta Reparto Corse team. Jules Cluzel and Lorenzo Zanetti had an impressive race, finishing 2° and 6°, while Leon Camier close in top 5 the WorldSBK race.

WorldSBK – Race 2

Leon Camier rode his MV Agusta F4RC into the top 5 at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, getting 11 more points in overall standing. The Italian squad, led by the Team Manager Andrea Quadranti, showed how positive was the work did on the bike setting over the weekend and, thanks this excellent performance by Camier, took home another important result, especially at a challenging track like Imola.

Camier is currently 9th in the overall ranking and the next world WorldSBK round will take place on May 15, in Malaysia, at Sepang International Circuit, where Camier will seek to consolidate its placement in the Top 10 overall standing.

The great performance of the team in this race was the chance to celebrate the anniversary of the death of Formula 1 World Champion Ayrton Senna, who tragically lost his life at Imola on May 1 1994 . Given the great friendship between Ayrton Senna and Claudio Castiglioni, historic patron of MV Agusta, the Schiranna based manufacturer decided to honor this event with a photo of the team with the F4 Senna version.

Leon Camier #2 – Really, really happy to be honest. The start wasn’t so good, I got caught behind the BMW and some other riders and was quite difficult to pass, so as soon as I could I passed them. Unfortunately Giugliano was too far from me. I am very happy with the feeling with the bike and with the changes we made between Race 1 and 2. Big thanks to everyone in the team for the awesome job.

WorldSSP – Race

Jules Cluzel finished in 2nd place the Round of Imola of WorldSSP Championship, and stepped up in 3rd place in overall championship standings, just 13 points behind the n°2 rider.

After winning the Tissot-Superpole2 on Saturday’s qualifying, Cluzel also dominated the early stages of the WorldSSP Race. In the first phase, French rider got off the line well for the Italian team on his F3 675, then maintaining his pace until the race was red flagged after just 3 laps, with a consequent restart for a shortened distance. The new start saw the race shortened to 11 laps and Cluzel immediately found an excellent race pace and started fighting in the top three, to finish in 2nd place behind the rival Kenan Sofuoglu.

Cluzel’s teammate Lorenzo Zanetti has long fought among the top positions in both race sessions, to ends up in 6th position under the checkered flag.

Jules Cluzel #16 – I’m very happy because the second place is definitely a good result in a race so difficult. I could have won but I had some problems early in the race and I still haven’t figured out what happened. When I passed Jacobsen I tried to get close even to Kenan but it was too late because there were only two laps to go. We did a really good job here at Imola, and I cannot wait to be back on track for the next Race in Malaysia.

Lorenzo Zanetti #87 – Finally we were back to a very positive weekend, without problems or complications. At the same time I am a little bit disappointed since we had the pace to do even better, but honestly we still lack something to keep the pace of Jules. In the next races we will try to close this gap. What really matters now is we showed we can fight with the riders on front.

John Burns
John Burns

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