New British Moto3 Team Set Up By Former MotoGP Rider Laverty
Calum Gill 13:18 17/09/2021
Former MotoGP rider Michael Laverty has announced that he is setting up a new Moto3 team to help British talent progress in Grand Prix motorcycle racing.
There are no full-time British riders on the MotoGP grid this year, despite Cal Crutchlow and Jake Dixon standing in at the Yamaha teams in recent races. Northern Irishman Laverty will take over the assets of the outgoing Petronas Sprinta racing team, after Petronas announced its intention to withdraw its Moto2 & Moto3 teams from competition at the end of 2021. Laverty's decision comes in an attempt to create a new channel to grand prix racing for British riders. The new-look outfit will race under the name of VisionTrack Honda Racing.
It has been confirmed that the team will field Junior world championship and Red Bull Rookies Cup frontrunner Scott Ogden as its first rider, with the news coming fresh off the back of his first win in the Spanish series at Jerez last month. He’ll be joined by fellow Brit Josh Whatley, who races against Odgen in the Spanish-based junior championship and has broken through into regular top 10 contention this season.
"For some time it has become difficult for British youngsters to make it, without a homegrown team competing at the top level," said Laverty, speaking to BT Sport. "Far too often young British riders have been overlooked because of a lack of sponsorship or financial support. We know there is a lot of talent out there just waiting for an opportunity. We believe that with the Vision Track Honda team we can offer them a more supportive route into Grand Prix racing. Laverty, who raced in MotoGP for Paul Bird Motorsport & Aprilia, added: At the end of the season I'll purchase all the (Petronas Sprinta Moto3) material, all the bikes, all the equipment, the flight cases, the garage. I'll try and keep on as many of the staff as I can. There's a lot of British staff in there that were going to be out of work, so it would be good if we can keep them on board."
The news will come as a welcome boost to British interests in the grand prix paddock, with a somewhat bleak-looking future following the retirement from full-time racing of three-time race winner Crutchlow at the end of 2020. The lack of a dedicated structure to move them up through the ranks in a somewhat familiar environment is often highlighted as one of the key factors why British riders haven’t been able to make the rapid career progression seen among other nationalities, with the likes of Crutchlow instead making a sideways step from production bike racing (where British talent dominates) rather than through the ranks of prototype machines. Details of the new squad are expected to emerge in the coming days, with 2022 grand prix provisional entry lists set to be published on Saturday by organising body IRTA. It’s also believed that a similar eleventh-hour reprieve for the Petronas Moto2 team might be in the pipeline, with paddock speculation mounting that another interested party is looking to acquire that team as a similar turnkey entry into the middleweight class.
