Monster Energy and KRT form new WSB partnership
Monster Energy announces a new sponsorship agreement with the official Kawasaki Racing Team in the 2015 FIM Superbike World Championship. Monster Energy will now join existing sponsors Motocard and Elf, in addition to Akrapovic, Bubel, MRA, and winter test sponsor Vialser in a working partnership with the official KRT WSB project.
Historically, Kawasaki and Monster Energy have enjoyed a global sponsorship relationship in both motocross and supercross racing. This partnership will now expand to create an exciting new dimension to include the championship-winning KRT World Superbike squad.
The factory WSB Ninja ZX-10R machines to be raced by 2013 World Champion Tom Sykes and recent KRT recruit Jonathan Rea will now feature prominent green Monster logos as part of a new graphics package. The final design of their 2015 machines will be unveiled at the official team launch in Barcelona on February 5th.
Prior to the launch there will be two pre-season test sessions in Spain. During these tests, the KRT team will run a distinctive winter testing livery in which Monster Energy logos will be featured prominently. The first test is set to take place at Motorland Aragon on 19 and 20 January and the second at Jerez on 26 and 27 January.
Biel Roda, Kawasaki Racing Team Marketing Manager, commented: “It is great to welcome Monster Energy to KRT. Monster is a truly global brand and we share many of their values. It is great news that they are giving support to our riders and team to fight for the Superbike World Championship title. This new partnership will join Motocard and Elf as top sponsors, two partners that have been with us for many years now. I am sure this agreement will give more energy to the whole KRT project and we will have fun together for many seasons.”
Steve Guttridge, Kawasaki Europe Race Planning Manager, commented: “In a global sense, we as Kawasaki are experiencing very exciting times with unprecedented results in all of our racing categories over the past few years. Monster Energy has backed our Motocross and Supercross programmes from their early days and with their strong support, success levels for both brands have risen. The benefits of each of us being well recognised as cool winning brands are obvious. I’m confident that Monster Energy will be happy that they have committed to come to World Superbike with our top team and would like to thank the company for their passion to win in partnership with Kawasaki.”
Tommy Hayden, Monster Energy Roadracing Manager, stated: “To race and to win is not only what Monster Energy stands for, it’s what we expect. Monster Energy has experienced great success at the highest levels of motorcycle racing and now with the exciting new addition of the Kawasaki Racing Team to our global racing program, we look to excel in the most prestigious production-based motorcycle series in the world, World Superbike. As has already been well established, KRT is a world championship-proven entity and with riders Tom Sykes and team newcomer Jonathan Rea, we’re confident great things are ahead for both Monster and Kawasaki in 2015 and well into the future.”