News April 4 2007

Alfa sponsors SBK Superbike World Championship and Ducati Racing

Alfa Romeo will be out in force at Philip Island for the second round of the 2007 SBK Superbike World Championship® on Sunday 4 March as the major automotive sponsor of the premier motorbike racing series and as the sponsor of Ducati Racing and its Australian world champion, Troy Bayliss.

The Italian car maker is a major force in supporting motorbike racing with Ducati Racing, involving motorbike Grand Prix events and champions such as Loris Capirossi and Casey Stoner, as well as in Superbikes with riders Troy Bayliss, winner of the SBK World Championship in 2006, and Lorenzo Lanzi, an emerging and talented Italian rider.

In 2006 Ducati Racing won the Constructors' Title and its riders who won as many as 12 races as well as climbing on to the podium 18 times. Alfa Romeo will also be involved in the fifth World Ducati Week, the huge meeting on the Adriatic Riviera in Romagna that attracts thousands of bikers from all over the world. WDW 2007 will be held from Thursday 28 June to Sunday 1 July at the prestigious Misano World Circuit in near Rimini - a perfect setting for celebrating the Ducati world.

Alfa Romeo will be involved in all 13 SBK Superbike World Championship ® events, with 11 in Europe and one each in Australia and Qatar attracting growing audiences - both at race circuits, with more than 1 million spectators, and at on television with more than 2 billion viewers in 2006. The sponsorship sits very well with Alfa Romeo’s own long sporting heritage and the performance, style and passion expressed in its own products.

Alfa Romeo products, in particular the new Alfa Romeo 159 Sportwagon and the Alfa Romeo Brera sports car, will be a highly visible presence both on the track, around the event and in Melbourne for the SBK Superbike World Championship ® event at Philip Island.

Philip Island has already seen the potential for a Troy Baylis win with the World superbike champion slashing more than a second off the superbike lap record at Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit at pre-event testing, setting an unofficial 1m.30.7 second time aboard his Ducati 999. Bayliss’ astonishing time set in the cool morning conditions on the 4.445 km island circuit was more than a second faster than the best outright lap on a superbike (1m31.9s) set by Bayliss in the morning warm up on race weekend last year.

Furthermore, today’s mark was more than 1.5 seconds faster than the best race lap set in 2006 (1m32.402 – Bayliss – Ducati) and showed the 37 year old is raring to race for 2007 and more than ready to defend his second world title.

“We are particularly proud in Australia to be available to provide this support to the SBK Superbike World Championship ® and Ducati Racing given Australia’s strong links to the sport through Troy Bayliss,” says David Stone, General Manager for Alfa Romeo in Australia. “Troy has had a long relationship with Alfa Romeo in Italy, using our products and facilities, and this new sponsorship of the team and the SBK Superbike World Championship ® both formalizes that relationship and, we hope, will help propel Troy onto even greater success in the future.”

© italiancar.net 4/04/07