Meet the team paving the way for British riders in MotoGP

What is MotoGP?

The highest class of motorcycle road racing events is Grand Prix motorcycle racing, held on road circuits (paved road surface) and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM).

MotoGP has been the top division of Grand Prix motorcycle racing since 2002.

Grand Prix motorcycles are purpose-built, unavailable for purchase by the general public, and unable to be ridden legally on public roads.

This is the major difference between other forms of motorcycle racing such as the Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) and the Isle of Man TT Racing.

Those events use modified versions of road-going motorcycles which are available to the public.

The MotoGP World Championship is divided into four classes: MotoGP, Moto2, Moto3, and MotoE.

The current British and MotoGP problem

Britain has not had a full-time MotoGP rider since Cal Crutchlow retired at the end of 2020.

With Sam Lowes and Rory Skinner leaving Moto2, there are now only four British riders across MotoGP’s four divisions.

Jake Dixon (Moto2), Scott Ogden (Moto3), Josh Whatley (Moto3), Chaz Davies (MotoE).

The two in Moto3 ride for MLAV, the team created by Michael Laverty to give British riders a chance to make it to the top.

Creating the conveyor belt

Deals with Dorna and Liberty Media

At the beginning of April, it was announced that Liberty Media Corporation, the company who have owned Formula One since 2017, acquired 86% of Dorna Sports for a price of €4.2 billion.

This meant that Liberty Media would acquire MotoGP and its feeder series as well as the Superbike World Championship.

The announcement stated that Dorna Sports S.L. will remain an independently run company attributed to Liberty Media’s Formula One Group trading stock.

CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta, who has held the position since 1994 will remain and the business will continue to be based in Madrid.

Only a few months before this announcement, MLAV revealed that they had struck a deal with Dorna to create their British Talent team to enter the JuniorGP 2024 season and beyond.

Laverty explained that the acquisition of MotoGP by Liberty Media might actually benefit his cause instead of throwing a spanner in his works.

He said: “I hope the Liberty Media acquisition might help us because they - in theory - will want to anglicise the championship a little bit, and tap into the British and American markets.

“We tick both those boxes as we have a couple of young American riders in our ranks too.

“We may look to have that sort of collaboration in JuniorGP in the future, so I would hope that what we’re doing is something both Dorna and Liberty are well aware needs addressing."

The financial barrier is something that Laverty expressed was a major obstacle and by overcoming it, his team would be able to produce more and more talented young British riders.

Laverty said: “I think we will produce a GP rider through our system and I hope it continues to grow but again it's all finance dependent.

“It will take a few years before we really feel the effects of the hard work done since we started the team in 2021, but it will pay dividends in 2026/27.

“If we can get the funding and the backing we can help more kids - there are some really talented kids I can see down the ladder that are 12/13/14 who will be able to benefit because all these steps are in place.

“So perhaps Scott and Josh may not have been perfectly positioned being the first in line but say if a new young kid joins our GP team next year, we’ll be on a level with any team in the paddock.

“I feel we’re almost there and it's one of those where the funding is the key part and I hope that we can forge out an even better relationship with Dorna and Liberty Media in the future.”

Funding the team out his own pocket

Laverty did not let the lack of title sponsor hinder his team's performance.

He declared that he has spent a lot of money this winter, buying new race trucks, hospitality units and a new bike from Honda complete with all new parts.

He said: “It is slightly worrying when most of it comes out of me and my business partner without a title sponsor.

“But we knew we couldn’t wait for a sponsor, we had to push on because we had a five-year plan to be the best in the championship and you can’t take a year off and dip slightly.”

MLAV have brought in a few smaller partners and weekend partners that Laverty states help fund the team in terms of the consumables, running costs, and travel.

It can be difficult however to juggle multiple partners instead of one title sponsor as all companies will require the same amount of coverage.

But at the moment due to the team being primarily UK focused, they have found that most UK-focused companies want to look at sponsoring teams in the British Superbike or WorldSBK championship.

Nevertheless, Laverty takes inspiration from Boscoscuro (team Speed Up) who have managed well balancing smaller sponsors in Moto2.

Created by former rider Luca Boscoscuro, the Boscoscuro bikes compete across the world of motorcycling, including Moto2.

Boscoscuro have a few partners who cannot quite be title sponsors for the full season but can do a quarter of the season, therefore they just change the livery of the bike.

Inspiration from The Doctor

Back in 2014 a team backed by the nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi entered Moto3 on a mission to promote young Italian talent in response to the huge influx of Spanish riders.

They progressed into Moto2 in 2017 and by 2021 the VR46 team secured a MotoGP slot when they agreed a deal with Esponsorama Racing, who would organise the racing operations for an entry under the Italian flag and Sky VR46 name and livery.

From 2022 the team joined the MotoGP in their own right and have won three races.

Laverty admitted that VR46 are the benchmark but appreciates that Rossi is a global icon and attracts blue chip sponsors like Sky and Monster.

But what The Doctor has created is hugely impressive.

He has taken over the Italian Fedederation’s role in developing young talent and his Academy is used as their feeder system.

Laverty said: “He has got a really good structure there - that is our end goal.

“We are making tentative steps into that, we have acquired mini bikes, practice bikes, we have set up in Barcelona as our main hub for the race team.

“It is the best location throughout the winter, we want to replicate it in the UK but the climate just isn’t suitable.

“But once the funding is a little stronger we would possibly collaborate with the American side of things and go to California or Florida.

“They have a great array of practice tracks because they have a big scene for it in America and I’ve got a lot of good contacts over there.

“We can definitely steal some ideas from VR46 and we can go and knock on Colin Edwards’ door and bring all my guys to his boot camp for a week, I have a lot of ideas but again it’s time and funding to make it happen.”