Editorial Note: In a July 6, 2005, press release issued by World Endurance Championship organziers FGSport Group, Samuel De Nardi was billed as the first European woman to race at the Suzuka 8 Hours. SAMUELA DE NARDI RIDES WITH APRILIA IN THE SUZUKA 8 HOURS The 21-year-old from Castelfranco will become the first Italian woman to ride in the world’s most famous endurance race on the 31st July. Samuela De Nardi will soon become the first Italian woman to ride in the Suzuka 8 Hours, probably the most famous motorcycle endurance race in the world, to be run at the celebrated 5.864 km Nagoya circuit on the 31st July. In the previous 28 editions of the race, only seven women have ever taken part: two Japanese, two Americans, two Canadians and one Dutch. Ten years have gone by since the last woman rode at Suzuka, and the most recent European entry, by Geerie Van Rooyen from Holland, dates back to 1982. First raced in 1978, the Suzuka 8 Hours attracts a crowd of 250,000 spectators over one weekend of racing. The 8 Hours is famed for the massive crowds it attracts, for its role as an official race in the World Endurance Championship and for the fierce competition with which the four big Japanese manufacturers approach it, fielding prototypes developed specially for the event and the best riders of the day. It is no coincidence that Suzuka winners include names like Rossi (the only Italian to have won the event), Edwards, Ukawa, Kato, Barros, Haga, Gardner, Doohan, and Rainey, with top riders like Spencer, Kocinski and Gibernau relegated to the lower steps of the podium. The race is held in a torrid climate with incredibly high levels of humidity that test the resistance of riders and machines, both of which have to be cooled by massive doses of ice at every pit stop. Aprilia will be entering an RSV 1000 from Team Aprilia Motociclismo, and has decided to entrust the bike to professional rider Daniele Veghini, Motociclismo journalist Federico Aliverti, and of course Samuela De Nardi. Born in Castelfranco on the 19th March 1984, Samuela began her minimoto racing career at just 4 years of age. After gaining experience in motocross, she came thirteenth in the 2000 Aprilia 125 Challenge, and the year after won the Alpe Adria 125 Trophy. After a season riding a Honda GP 125, Samuela made her 2003 debut on the Aprilia Tuono 1000, and finished fourth in European Endurance Championship in Rijeka, and third in the women’s championship in which she only took part sporadically. At the end of the season Aprilia rewarded Samuela with an official team rider contract, allowing her to take part in the Superbike Trophy at the MotorShow on a championship-winning Aprilia SXV supermotard. In 2005 Samuela stepped up to the RSV and is currently leading the European Women’s Championship and running second in the Italian Championship. These brilliant results fully justify Aprilia’s decision to offer Samuela the opportunity to tackle Suzuka. It will be the first time for an Italian woman to compete as a works rider, and the appearance of Samuela’s name on the provisional entry lists has already caused quite a stir among the Japanese media, especially considering the prestigious Italian motorcycle she will be riding and her own goods looks. “I am delighted,” Samuela told us. The Suzuka 8 Hours is a racing legend, and the chance to take part at just 21 years of age is a great honour. Aprilia has already asked me to intensify my training to cope with the tough conditions there. At the last European championship meeting in Rijeka, before they confirmed my engagement, the team left me short of petrol in the trials to see if I could push the RSV a few kilometres back to the box, in full leathers and under a blazing sun. In Endurance racing, if you fall or break down, you have to push the bike back to the pits unaided. We shall be racing in the stock bike category, for machines closely derived from standard road-going models. Out of 76 entries, there are only three non-Japanese bikes (our Aprilia, a Ducati and a BMW). There are only eight teams from Europe and two of those are Italian. And I’m the only woman, so it’s a great responsibility for me. It’s going to be the sort of adventure I’ll want to tell my grandchildren about, like racing at Le Mans or Indianapolis for a car driver, I suppose. The bike is the same as the one I ride in the European Women’s Championship, so though my team-mates have more experience than me, I’m confident I won’t be far behind them in lap times. As far the result goes, you just can’t say what might happen in long races like this. Our aim is to be the best twin out there, and maybe even the best in our class. The RSV has shown how competitive it is in stock racing, in Italy and throughout Europe. What frightens me most are the Japanese riders. You can see from the GP championship that they’ve been riding at Suzuka all their lives. These guys know every inch of the track and live for this one race. And they’re determined to win. They tell me that Suzuka comes as a shock to European riders in Japan for the first time, like us. Especially for the first few laps of testing, while we’re still riding cautiously and getting used to the circuit, these Japanese guys whiz past you from all angles without even closing the throttle. For the moment the only way we can train at Suzuka is on videogames! Nevertheless I’m looking forward to getting to grips with the circuit there and showing what I’m made of.”