Alvaro Bautista's hat-trick at Assen's "Cathedral of Speed" in April earned Ducati its 400th victory in the WSBK World Championship. That is more than double that of the second-placed manufacturer in this classification - "an extraordinary result that is added to the more than one thousand podiums taken by Ducati riders in a competition in which Ducati has been an 'ever-resent' since the debut of the series in 1988, taking 15 Riders' World Titles and the 18 Manufacturers' World Titles in that time.
Verge Motorcycles, the electric superbike pioneer, has formed an Advisory Board comprising top industry leaders to support its plans for global conquest. "The esteemed experts provide motor sports and technology know-how that will be vital for the company's international expansion. Verge is already enjoying strong growth, and the company is now recruiting top talent for its new Innovation Office in London". New advisors so far include Mark Wilson, former CFO of Aston Martin Lagonda PLC and McLaren Automotive, and F1 legend Mika Häkkinen. Verge is recruiting for its Innovation Offices in Tallinn, San Francisco and London.
Over 15,000 Ducati enthusiasts are said to have gathered at their local dealerships around the world for the second iteration of the Ducati '#WeRideAsOne' on Saturday 6 May, with 334 Ducati dealers and 159 international Ducati Official Clubs participating on all five continents. As a result of the success, Ducati says it will now make the event a fixed annual calendar feature to take place on the first Saturday of May.
Yamaha has established a U.S. based Yamaha Motor Exploratory Fund, L.P. II, a company-financed ten-year fund with a total investment of $100m for exploring technologies and opportunities aimed at new business domain expansion and securing competitive advantages (PSB/Visor Down). This is the second such fund in the past five years that Yamaha has invested in. The search for companies to invest in will be carried out by Yamaha Motor Ventures (YMV) - Yamaha's corporate venture capital arm.
MotoAmerica has announced that it will again qualify riders for the 2023 FIM MiniGP World Series through the Mission Mini Cup by Motul Series, but this year will do so in two of the Ohvale-spec classes. Last year, two riders qualified for the World Series in the 160 class, and this year the series will also host qualifying races for the 190 class. There will be five rounds in total.
Brembo has announced record results for FY2022 with revenues at € 3,629m, up +30.7% over 2021, with net profit € 292.8m (+35.9%). Its net financial position improved by € 128.6m. EBITDA was € 625.2m (EBITDA margin: 17.2%); EBIT was € 382.8m (EBIT margin: 10.5%).
Nolan Helmets has appointed Enrico Pellegrino as CEO and General Manager at the Bergamo-based helmet brand. Before joining Nolan in January 2023, he held senior positions at Ford, Ducati, Yamaha, Peugeot Motorcycles and, most recently, at MV Agusta. Nolan, together with Shark, Troy Lee Designs, Segura Bering, Cairn Sport and Casco is part of the 2Ride Group. Nolan began manufacturing and selling motorcycle helmets in 1972.
Founded by Charles Wakefield in 1899, the Castrol brand is recognisable the world over and is one of the motorcycle industry's oldest and most revered of brand properties - iconic, evocative and still sought after as a badge of honour. Bought in 2002 (as part of Burmah Castrol) by BP (formerly British Petroleum) - itself a storied British brand - it is always a brave brand owner and manager who would seek to redirect such a brand's visuals. But that is what BP has done with Castrol this year - with an "updated look and feel to reflect changing customer needs". Related changes include the introduction of 'Castrol ON' - a range of "advanced fluids and lubricants for electric vehicles" and a $60m investment in a new EV battery test centre and analysis laboratory in the UK. Look for the new brand identity to be phased in across all Castrol European offices between now and 2024.
Sources: AMD, IDN, FT, Reuters, PSB, MPN, BDN, MCN, AP, Bloomberg, MSNW, Electrek, electricmotorcycles.news, RideApart.com, Motor1.com, Cycle World, motorbikewriter.com
