Minoli & Yamaha Racing – Primed for Performance Event Review

On Thursday 12^th September, Minoli hosted a prestigious event at the Home House private members club on Portman Square, London, W1, co-hosted by Paul Denning and the Yamaha Racing World Superbike team. It was a wonderful evening and over 100 guests including notable housebuilders, property developers, interior designers, automotive professionals and friends of Minoli, gathered for an exclusive presentation and panel discussion titled ‘Primed for Performance – The Importance of Partnership’.

During the session they heard first hand from the top-class series motorcycle riders and team members about the challenges and strategies for running a successful team and racing in the highly technical and demanding arena of the FIM Superbike World Championship.

As usual, for this event we turned to Minoli’s go-to food and beverage supplier, Italian Continental Stores (ICS) of Maidenhead, in Berkshire. Alongside their expertise in importing and distributing genuine Italian foods and essential ingredients, ICS also have an exclusive agreement with the renowned Santomè vineyards near Treviso in northern Italy, for the supply of white and red wines and prosecco. This longstanding relationship has helped them grow their direct supply trade and brings a truly unique offering to the ICS product portfolio

In one of the beautiful ground-floor salons at Home House, guests enjoyed a choice of wines from Santomè including: Prosecco – Brut Santomè, Red – Moro 41 Rosso Santomè and White – Anna 6 Bianco Santomè. In addition, ICS supplied Menabrea Italian Lager – the oldest continuously producing brewery in Italy, established in 1846.

Attendees were also provided with a delicious selection of canapes prepared by the executive chef of Home House and served by their charming events and hospitality team, led by Andrew Richardson and Claudia Cledwyn. These included Crispy prawns with a Marie Rose sauce, sausage rolls with pickled walnut purée and spinach & herb quiches with smoked salmon cream.

A regular fixture at Minoli events, cabaret duo Verity & Violet entertained with a selection of vintage inspired mix of old school classics, jazzy numbers, post-modern and more contemporary music. Guests were also able to see up-close a stunning, state-of-the-art WorldSBK-Spec Yamaha R1, which was kindly brought along to the event by the team and gave us all a first-hand impression of the highly technical set-up and startling performance of these finely tuned machines.

After introductions by Jonathon Minoli, the presentation began, chaired by Tim Harvey, former British Touring Car Championship winning driver and television commentator, who was accompanied by Paul Denning, Pata Prometeon Yamaha WorldSBK Team Principal & Managing Director of the Crescent Group.

The audience was first treated to a live-feed video link to Beatriz Neila, currently competing in the FIM Women’s Motorcycling World Championship, and riding for the Ampito / Pata Prometeon Yamaha team on a Yamaha YZF-R7. The 22- from Madrid, who recently gained a master’s degree in law, has been racing since a young age in Spain and has won the European Women’s Championship four years in a row from 2020-2023.

Streaming the footage from the Circuit Paul Ricard, north of Toulon in the south of France, Beatriz was competing there in the Yamaha R7 European SuperFinale, Bol D’Or race last weekend. She spoke of the challenging weather conditions during qualifying, her hopes for the races, and the support she has from the team. Beatriz is also looking forward to the next round of the FIM Women’s Motorcycling World Championship at Cremona, a circuit she is familiar with from testing, and Paul wished her luck for a great weekend ahead.

The conversation then turned to a guest we were privileged to have in attendance, Jonathan Rea, six-time World Championship winning rider and the most successful participant in the history of the FIM Superbike World Championship.

Jonathan firstly explained his bandaged thumb, the result of an injury sustained in a crash in Race 1 at Magny Cours the previous weekend. He went on to talk about the transition from riding for Kawasaki to Yamaha, the importance of building confidence and trust throughout the team, the marginal gains and improvements they are making in every round, as well as sharing some entertaining anecdotes about family life and his passion for Motocross.

Paul also elaborated on his experience as Team Principal, the importance of sponsorship and technical partners to the success of the team, how leadership has evolved to require a ‘whole team’ mentality, how the Superbike series model encourages new riders to engage in the sport and how both Beatriz and Jonathan are such great ambassadors for the team and racing.

Jonathan and fellow team rider, Andrea Locatelli, are next due to compete in Round 9 of the FIM Superbike World Championship on 20-22 September at the Cremona Circuit in Lombardy, Italy, close to where Minoli’s main production partners are based. Jonathan is still to make a decision on whether he can participate with his injury, and we wish him a swift recovery and the very best of luck to the whole team for another weekend of thrilling action.

To conclude the proceedings, as part of the 10th anniversary celebrations for Minoli London’s George Street showroom, just around the corner in Marylebone, we were delighted to unveil a unique artwork commissioned from artist and interior designer Rebecca Tucker. Featuring abstract scenes from George Street, Italy and the two stone, carved lion heads that adorn Minoli London’s building, in Rebecca’s own signature style, the painting is set to take pride of place in Minoli’s boardroom at the Oxford headquarters.

Rebecca’s work has been exhibited in various exhibitions across the UK, California and Italy, and she has had paintings hung in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, the Mall Galleries and the Royal Academy of West England.

Our sincere thanks to Tim, Paul, Beatriz, Jonathan and Rebecca for their contributions to such an entertaining and insightful evening, and to the team at Home House for the splendid setting and their wonderful hospitality. Also, to Rosario Sardo and the team at ICS, and to the Spinazzè Family at the Santomè Estate.