Effenbert Liberty Racing Team debuted last year in World Superbikes taking three podiums with Sylvain Guintoli who finished sixth overall, while team mate Jakub Smrz was less luckier, even though he too was on the podium three times, but having collected one to many DNF’s finished the season 14th.
This season the Czech based team will be expanding its Superbike effort to three riders, adding Maxime Berger to their line-up and they’ll also be competing in the Superstock 1000 FIM Cup.
The management of the SBK racing team will see 44 year old Fabio Alberti in the position of Team Manager.
Alberti has an extensive experience in racing, starting in 1995 when he worked with Chesterfield Aprilia and then spending eleven years with Lucio Cecchinello’s GP teams.
His signing in the team was strongly desired by the team owner and CEO of the Liberty Group, Dr.
Mario Bertuccio, who considers him important in order to be able to face at best in develop the racing teams programs, that are planned in the coming season.
Here is a brief interview with the new Effenbert Liberty Racing Team Manager :1 – Why this change from the LCR Honda Team – in MotoGP – to the Effenbert Liberty Racing Team – in WSBK -?“We all love challenges, new and ambitious projects, those for which you cannot sleep at night.
LCR Honda with Lucio has been a beautiful chapter of my professional life, LCR is at the Top of the world and working alongside Lucio has really been an honor, a special teacher as well as a special person.
But I accepted this challenge, a new prestigious position in a team where there’s space for operating, which has the support of the motorbike brand that we all adore for its genius, Ducati, and who doesn’t want to present itself on the forefront of international motorsport as a rookie team anymore, but as a reality that wants to win as well as participate.
This project that Mario Bertuccio illustrated me, rang a bell in me and I accepted the challenge.
”2 – Why this team expansion, at a time in which the tendency is rather to withdraw or at least reduce investments?“Our team is well supported financially by the owner, the “Liberty CZ Group” holding company, which just a few weeks ago changed its legal form becoming a joint-stock company, and the owner has decided, despite the period of crisis and thanks to new regulations developed by the organizers of the World Superbike Championship and by the FIM, to keep the 2011 budget and also the investment in promotion of their brands, therefore the intention to line up 4 bikes in the World Superbike Championship.
Unfortunately I did not close with a top rider who I wanted to take with me from MotoGP, but this is a chapter to be re-open next year.
For this year the new entry concerns a young rider, Maxime Berger, because we believe in young people”.
[the top rider that Alberti wanted may have been Toni Elias who was linked to switching to WSBKs and ride for the Effenbert Liberty team] 3 – What are you expecting from the next coming season, what are your goals?“The only objective for those who race, is to to win, but as we all know , to win is very difficult.
We have three very good riders, Guintoli finished the season in great form, Smrž is a very experienced rider who has suffered in the season finale, but I believe that he will be at his best, and Berger is our young promise to whom we want to dedicate a lot of attention and on which we focusing on.
So, these are our goals, start to scout new talents, create an Academy if possible, because only training creates a fertile breeding ground for young riders and this is exactly what Spain is experiencing.
In addition, the team will have an appendix in Super Stock, which will be managed by a man of experience as Natale Egi, and that, with young McCormick as a rider and with “the rookie” Ducati 1199 Panigale which on paper seems it will give a hard time to the competition.
The heart of the team is composed by the Technical chiefs, Nicola Manna, Riccardo Venturi Bozza and Filippo Burgatti, and the Race engineers, Luca Ferraccioli, Alberto Giribuola and Flavio Prodolliet.
Finally, our team will try to organize events that help give even more visibility to the Superbike championship in the world.
My commitment will go in these directions”.
