FEDERAL OIL AND GRESINI MOTO2 TO CONTINUE THEIR PARTNERSHIP IN 2017 AS JORGE NAVARRO STEPS UP TO INTERMEDIATE CLASS
Federal Oil and Gresini Racing have renewed their partnership, started back in 2012, and they will be racing together again in the 2017 Moto2 World Championship: next year, the Team Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 will line up Spanish Moto3 talent Jorge Navarro, who will make his debut in the intermediate class. Navarro will be aboard a 2017 Kalex machine and will replace Sam Lowes, who next year will make his debut in the premier class riding the Aprilia Racing Team Gresini’s Aprilia RS-GP.
Jorge Navarro, born on February 3rd, 1996 in La Pobla de Vallbona, near Valencia, made his debut in the Moto3 World Championship in the 2014 Indianapolis Grand Prix and faced his first full season in 2015, clinching the “Rookie of the Year” trophy with four podium finishes. Last June, in the Grand Prix of Catalunya, Navarro took his first win in the Moto3 World Championship.
With Sam Lowes currently third overall in the Championship, in 2017 the Team Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 will therefore continue its growth path, investing on young talented riders thanks to the valuable support of Federal Oil, market leader in lubricants for motorcycles in Indonesia – a country with an expanding motorcycling market for motorcycles and where MotoGP enjoys a tremendous interest from the media and the fans.
JORGE NAVARRO
“I’m very happy and excited to have the opportunity to step up to the intermediate class of the World Championship with the Team Federal Oil Gresini Moto2. It’s an exciting challenge that I face with great enthusiasm. I would like to thank Federal Oil and Fausto Gresini for the trust they put in me, and for giving value to the work I’m currently doing in Moto3. I’m convinced that starting from next year we will do great things together!”.
PATRICK ADHIATMADJA (President, Director and CEO Federal Oil)
“We are happy and proud to give continuity to the important partnership with Gresini Racing in the 2017 season, welcoming Jorge Navarro as our new rider. We believe that Jorge can quickly adapt to a new category and thus keep the Federal Oil brand at the top of the Moto2 World Championship: he’s a very talented rider, as evidenced by his brilliant career in Moto3, and we are sure that the excellent technical support provided by the Team Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 will help him to grow up quickly. Our goal, as leading brand in the Indonesian market, is to continue to increase our global visibility, with positive effects on sales and brand awareness. Finally Federal Oil, together with all Indonesian fans, would like to thank Sam Lowes for the hard work he is doing and for the excellent results he’s getting in this season. We wish him all the best for his future challenge in MotoGP!”.
FAUSTO GRESINI
“It’s a great pleasure and pride to be able to continue the important project in the Moto2 World Championship together with Federal Oil, a valuable partner since 2012. Our efforts in recent years led us to become top players in an extremely fought category, as evidenced by the results we are getting with Sam Lowes, currently fighting for the World Title. In 2017 we are determined to remain at the top and consequently, with Lowes who will step up to MotoGP, the choice fell on Jorge Navarro, undoubtedly one of the most interesting young talents of Moto3, with whom we signed a 2-year contract. Navarro proved to learn quickly, becoming a ‘big’ of the smaller displacement: we are convinced that he can fast adapt also to Moto2, a Championship where the level is currently very high. It will be an exciting challenge and we look forward to start working with Jorge, aware that we can offer to him a top team and a strong technical package, thanks to the support of Federal Oil. For this reason we are already organizing some important testing sessions to prepare his debut in the best possible way”.