MotoGP Academy Badges Racing Schools to Chase New Talent
· Yahoo Sports
MotoGP is opening a new grassroots avenue for finding and developing new talent with the launch of the MotoGP Academy, a seal of approval the championship will award to racing schools and institutions worldwide that meet its standards on and off the track.
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The goal is to create a network of racing schools around the world - and in particular regions that are currently underserved - to train young talent. To be clear, the MotoGP Academy program isn't going to be building and running new schools, but rather, MotoGP is licensing its brand and providing resources to existing schools that meet a standard criteria.
The Academy sits alongside the Moto4 series (previously known as the Talent Cups) and the JuniorGP paddock under the Road to MotoGP umbrella. The thinking echoes how the Asian and British Talent Cups were formed last decade to funnel regional talent toward the world championship.
Other Road to MotoGP Initiatives including the Red Bull Rookies Cup have produced stars such as 2020 MotoGP Champion Joan Mir. Access to the Rookies Cup is quite limited however, and a grassroots approach such as the MotoGP Academy program may uncover future talents that may otherwise go unnoticed. Photo by Honda.To earn the seal of a proval, a school must satisfy criteria across four categories: infrastructure, training methodology, technical execution, and visibility of the brand. Qualified schools will continue to operate independently, but will have access to tailored toolkits, activation support, discounts on MotoGP products, and MotoGP Academy branding. MotoGP will benefit from having access to grassroots programs that can further grow its overall brand.
Each Academy will carry the name of its country, region, or continent, borrowing the naming convention used by the FIM MotoMini World Series. Smaller markets will have a single national Academy that will act as a local hub for smaller programs while larger countries and markets can have multiple MotoGP Academies (the U.S., for example, is geographically quite spread out and could support multiple regional academies.) The program will be specifically targeting markets where MotoGP sees room for substantial growth.
Interested schools can apply for consideration by emailing [email protected].
WSBK racer and former MotoGP competitor Somkiat Chantra was a product of the Idemitsu Moto4 Asia Cup. Photo by Honda.Once established, the network of MotoGP Academies will be a new addition to the larger Road to MotoGP program, which includes racing series such as the FIM MotoJuior World Championship, the Idemitsu Moto4 Asia Cup, the Moto4 British Cup, the Moto4 Northern Cup, the FIM MotoMini World Series, and the MotoGP Rookies Cup.
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