Alstare And Bimota Join Forces

First move for the new Bimota is a striking one. Marco Chiancianesi and Daniele Longoni, the Swiss investors who acquired the prestigious motorcycle make last September, and Francis Batta, owner of Alstare Racing, have signed a five-year contract, creating a unique partnership between Bimota and the promotion and racing specialist.

Alstare's advanced technical facilities, located near Liege, in Belgium, will become Bimota's new global racing department, managing development of a Superbike World Championship version of Bimota's BMW S1000RR-powered BB3 sportbike, as well as further evolution of its HB4 Moto2 racer. (After a hesitative world championship debut in 2010 in the hands of young Thai rider Ratthapark Wilairot, the HB4 was mothballed.) Alstare will also provide technical support for official Bimota teams and supply racing parts.

To satisfy eligibility for SBK, Bimota first needs to finalize homologation and then produce the minimum number of BB3s required by the rules—unless the series adopts an exemption to welcome Bimota back. If all goes to plan, Team Bimota Alstare Racing will field Italian Ayrton Badovini and Brit Christian Iddon in the new EVO class. Alstare will also develop new models to compete in Supersport. Davide Tardozzi won the first-ever SBK race in 1988 at Donington Park on a Yamaha-powered Bimota YB4 EI.

A force in communications and image projection, Alstare has also been tasked with sharpening Bimota’s marketing strategies, including conducting consumer research and preparing promotional and advertising campaigns and events. Further, Alstare will create a global Bimota customer and dealer database, as well as an official online community to support fan clubs.