AirAsia Caterham Moto Racing Team Is Set To Race
KUALA LUMPUR, 5th March 2014 – Caterham Moto Racing Team is delighted to announce that AirAsia, the world’s best low cost airline, has become the team’s title sponsor as it prepares to make its debut in the 2014 Moto2TM World Championship.
The team title sponsorship reinforces AirAsia’s continued commitment to the world of international motorsports by partnering with one of the most innovative brands in the industry.
AirAsia Bhd CEO, Aireen Omar said, “We are very proud to be the title sponsor of this exciting new team and look forward to continuing our partnership with Caterham, a team with a great racing pedigree known for innovation. There’s a lot of synergy in our brands and we look forward to being a part of the team. We’re looking forward to a successful season.”
At the unveiling of the partnership, AirAsia-Caterham Moto Racing Team also unveiled its new 600cc four-stroke Moto2TM racing machine and racing leathers with AirAsia livery, and introduced their two Moto2TM riders Johann Zarco and Josh Herrin for the team’s inaugural racing season. Both riders will be racing under the supervision of John Stigefelt as Team Manager.
Team Principal of Caterham Moto Racing Team Mia Sharizman commented, “Two-wheeled motorsport is a new venture for Caterham Group and one that we believe will be a long term project. It is an exciting time for us and I would like to thank AirAsia for the opportunity.
“It is great to see their development and commitment to the sport from initially supporting an event, to their backing of Malaysian rider Zulfahmi Khairuddin who will compete in Moto3 class this year. I believe our partnership with AirAsia as a Moto2 team is the next progressive step and will provide an excellent opportunity to develop up and coming Asian riders on a worldwide branding platform.
“The team is in high spirits and we hope to show our gratitude to AirAsia throughout the year by achieving good results”.
AirAsia’s first foray into the world of MotoGP started with home-grown success Zulfahmi Khairuddin representing the airline’s effort in nurturing local talents. Zulfahmi, who raced under the AirAsia-SIC banner as a wildcard entrant at the 2009 Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix, has bloomed into a world-class racer, with the airline dynamically supporting his development for the past 4 years. Now as part of Caterham development program, it is hoped that Zulfahmi could continue to nurture other young talents while furthering his career in motorsport.
“When AirAsia first started, many people doubted its existence and predicted its fall. But after 12 years, we proved all the skeptics wrong and attained various accomplishments and became the world’s best. We hope that the AirAsia Caterham Moto Racing Team derives inspiration from our success story and becomes a force to be reckoned with in motor racing,” Aireen added.
Team Manager Johan Stigefelt commented: ““To be able to work with AirAsia is a great privilege. To have such a strong and recognised partner is something many teams dream of and I am sure that our team will do everything possible to reward AirAsia with good results. Also I must say we are looking great! We will be recognised both on and off track and that’s important for us and AirAsia.
“AirAsia joins us at a great time in our development. In a very short amount of time we have managed to build a strong team with two great riders. We have completed five tests which have been very important for us to collect as much data as possible and next we will head to Jerez next week for the final pre-season test which will give us a clear idea of where we are relative to our competitors, as we will all be on the same engines and tyres. Then it’s the start of the season and we can’t wait for it to get going as its going to be so competitive – anything could actually happen!
“Finally a huge thanks to everyone involved at AirAsia for making this happen. Now let’s go racing!”
For regular updates stay tuned to AirAsia Caterham Moto Racing’s Website (www.caterhammoto2.com); Twitter (www.twitter.com/CaterhamMoto2); Facebook (www.facebook.com/caterhammoto2); Instagram (www.instagram.com/caterhammoto2); Flickr (www.flickr.com/photos/caterhammoto2) and YouTube (www.youtube.com/caterhammoto2).