When Fonsi Nieto decided to retire, his cousins G22 Racing tea, was left without a second rider for the 2011 Moto2 Championship, but yesterday the team suprisingly announced they will be fielding Polish rider Lukasz Wargala alongside Raffaele de Rosa.
Wargala 27, is veteran of the IDM Superbike series having rode a BMW S1000RR for the Sport Evolution Team and last year was scheduled to wildcard at the Brno round with Dirk Heidolf’s Racing Team Germany, but a serious hand injury (his career was thought to be at risk) picked up during IDM’s Saschsenring round kept him from his debut in Moto2 and also from taking part in the final two IDM races.
The Polish rider had already tested a Suter Moto2 for this wildcard chance, and was present at the three day testing session at Valencia that wrapped up on Saturday, testing G22 Racing’s Moriwaki (his name wasn’t listed on any of the timecharts) and naturally will also be taking part at the upcoming Estoril and Jerez Moto2 tests.
Lukasz Wargala:“I am very happy to be the first Polish rider in the Grand Prix World Championship in almost forty years.
It is a great honour – and while I will do my best to make the Polish fans proud, it is also a great challenge and I am under no illusion of the task ahead.
Moto2 and MotoGP are the highest levels of motorcycle racing and to do well, you must know the circuits and have a very good understanding of the bike.
That is why I want to focus on learning during this season and I believe it won’t be my last.
Luckily with Pablo, Gelete and the whole G22 Racing Team I have a fantastic crew around me as well as a winning bike.
”Pablo Nieto:“We are a young team so it is important to have a young and upcoming rider like Lukasz Wargala, with whom we can grow together.
Lukasz has a lot of potential but he must learn a lot and this is what we will be concentrating on this season.
We won’t be putting any pressure on him to get results and all we would like him to do is to learn.
We know each other for a short time but I know he is a good person and he can do well in Moto2.
It is also very important for the World Championship to have a first Polish rider in a long time.
Ryszard Mankiewicz raced against my father some forty years ago and now Lukasz will race in Moto2 together with the sons of Angel Nieto.
It’s a great emotion for all of us.
”Source motogp.
com
