"I'm very satisfied
with the enthusiastic cooperation of our team, " said Fabio Alberti, the
team manager of Effenbert Liberty, " this opportunity was enough to
show the motivation of the team and the riders, who are going to have
our full support. The optimism of the team manager reflected the overall
attitude of the team owner and the CEO Mario Bertuccio, who bravely
declared during his speech on Saturday's night meet and greet : "We are
here to win the championship! I can see already now that there's a
great possibility to make this dream come true."
The atmosphere was
outstanding. The team performed a mock grid procedure with the
assistance of local police in the heart of the city covered in snow.
Sylvain Guintoli, dressed up in his leather suit, was surrounded by the
whole team and many curious fans and passers-by. When the sun went down,
the team, sponsors and other special guests, including Giancarlo
Falappa and Ernesto Marinelli, gathered for a pompous dinner and a
special program that, for some, didn't end until 6 in the morning.
Ernesto
Marinelli, the Ducati Superbike project manager, shared his positive
view and disclosed some main features of the brand new Ducati Panigale:
"I'm very happy to see that the team is growing. Now, they have 2 riders
in Superstock and it's an important class for us because it's more
close to the production motorcycle. On one hand, there are many
differences between the new Ducati and the old one, on the other hand
there are very few. Many from the technological point of view, we
installed in this new bike all the highest technology that we've learnt
from racing over the past 5 year. The similarities? It's still a Ducati.
We wanted to keep the familiar feeling, the characteristics and the
feedback that the bike gives to the rider, of course with the emphasis
on performance, lightness and beauty."
The program continued on
Sunday to round up a successful weekend and to say goodbye, although not
for a long time, since the team will meet soon, this time in much
warmer Australia.
"Everything's been great so far. This is my
second year in world superbikes with even more experience and resources
and it comes without saying that I'm going to do my best, "commented
Maxime Berger, the youngest SBK protagonist of the team. Also Brett
McCormick, who's expressed his overall satisfaction with the team,
declared the event a success: "I got to do the test last October and the
team is a great bunch of guys. Good chemistry, good people, I'm super
satisfied. It's hard to be successful if you don't surround yourself
with good people. It's hard to say what I expect coming in because it's
my first full year over here, but I think I'm definitely capable of
winning races and I've heard really good things about the new bike."
Everyone
was leaving with a beaming smile on their face. "I would like to thank
everybody, especially Barbara Delmastro Meoni and everybody else who
made this event so special. The atmosphere was amazing," concluded Fabio
Alberti.
