Posted in Minoli
28th August 2023
In the fast-paced world of WorldSBK production racing, Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK – Yamaha’s official team – sets the bar as high as possible, both on and off track.
2023 has been a fruitful season for the team so far in the FIM Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) with a total of 28 podiums from 24 races – seeing either leading rider Toprak Razgatlıoğlu or teammate Andrea Locatelli stand on the rostrum in almost every race, from Australia all the way to Europe.
That strike-rate is similar to the one which brought the 2021 WorldSBK Championship title and “triple crown” back to Dorset in the UK, home to Crescent Motorcycles and Yamaha’s official team in the production-based series.
Nestled in idyllic New Forest surroundings is a 700-square metre state-of-art facility, fully refitted in stages from 2015 with Minoli porcelain of course, to house an ambitious bid for the Japanese three-tuning-fork marque to re-join the World Championship – and five years later take its three top prizes of the Riders’, Manufacturers’ and Teams’ titles.
The purpose-built workshop and suite of offices contains everything needed to run a championship-winning team, including four-bays for WorldSBK race machine maintenance with completely inbuilt toolboxes, engine maintenance room, fabrication room, wet room for parts cleaning and full parts storeroom. In addition there is an open truck bay capable of housing one of the team’s two race transporters – truck and trailer units akin to a “home away from home” during each race weekend. In these industrious zones, the workshop and engineering spaces are fitted with the Minoli Workshop series, 200/200/12mm porcelain tiles.
You can also find the team’s flyaway cases in a dedicated storage area beside the main truck bay – 21 bespoke ATA-approved lightweight flight cases designed to carry 5.5 tonnes of spare parts and equipment along with four fully-prepared official Yamaha R1 WorldSBKs to the far-flung reaches of the globe for rounds in Australia, Indonesia and Argentina each season. This space, where very heavy-duty wear and tear are expected with trucks driving in and out, is again fitted with the Minoli Workshop series.
In planning the refit with Minoli, the demands of the race team have been meticulously thought out across each area to ensure enduring quality and finish using the Workshop series, which have stood the test of time through the five seasons in WSBK up until today. Paul Denning team principal and Jonathon Minoli worked together to ensure the specification was over and above the technical requirements.
Upstairs the management offices, administration and board room are fully fitted throughout with the Nero Marquina marble effect finish from the Minoli Marvel series. This provides a contemporary, clean, technical and corporate feel, which Paul Denning designed to welcome both clients and sponsors of the team and to showcase the best of the teams’ achievements to date. With an historic trophy cabinet wall within boardroom, there are also historical images and assorted memorabilia in the management offices, kitchen, archive and even bathroom facilities, which are of course fully fitted with Minoli porcelain from the Marvel Series.
“As a globally-operated race team, it’s important that we put our best foot forward when meeting with prospective partners,” explains Team Principal Paul Denning. “Our headquarters provides the perfect place to do that, as well as being a fabulous place to work and operate the international team from.”
Back on the road at the circuits that line the 2023 WorldSBK calendar, the team has achieved wins in Italy at Misano and Imola, as well as further victories in Indonesia and most recently the Czech Republic, to keep the trophy cabinets at Crescent’s stunning headquarters in Dorset topped up.
“Our aim is to win at the end of the day – and to do so, we must have a dedicated philosophy to high quality across the project, both in presentation and performance, because our competitors won’t hand over race wins easily!” adds Denning.
Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK currently leads the aggregate Teams’ Championship standings with four rounds left to run following an August summer break – restarting with Magny-Cours in France from 8-10 September.
Minoli are delighted to be a technical partner and continue a relationship between Minoli, Crescent and the two principals Paul & Jonathon, that is now well into its third decade.