MotoGP Podcast: Michael Laverty talks 2022 Moto3 team
In this extract from the latest Crash.net MotoGP podcast, special guest Michael Laverty gives the lowdown on the new VisionTrack Honda Moto3 team he is launching for next year's Moto3 World Championship.
"It came out of nowhere!" Laverty confirmed. "It had never been my intention to own my own team but I was just in the right place at the right time. I spoke to the right people with the right connections and all of sudden, when we lost the Gresini and Petronas teams from Moto3 [next year], there were grid slots available.
"I had spoken to Mike Trimby [IRTA] only a few weeks prior and said that if we are going to bring through the next group of MotoGP riders from the UK we need a landing platform. We need somewhere for them to enter this paddock with a team that wants them there.
"It's been better in recent years with Scott Redding, Cal Crutchlow and Bradley Smith but before that - with my brother [Euguene] and Chaz Davies - you landed in a Spanish or Italian team that didn't really want you and you were always fighting a losing battle.
"But we need to provide opportunities a little bit sooner, before you are actually established [in grand prix]. I'd been speaking about this for so long, including to Mike Trimby, and all of a sudden he said, 'can you come for a chat?'
"The opportunity was there and I immediately went to work with my sponsors to put something together in the short time before the application deadline arrived for 2022. I didn't reach my full target budget-wise, but I got close enough that I was content I would find the rest and I've been working hard on that since.
"Sometimes opportunities present themselves and you've got to jump in. I'd talked about it for so long and was in the right place to make it happen. I thought, 'someone has to step up, so why not me?'"
Laverty then talks about why rookies Scott Ogden and Josh Whatley were picked as his riders over established British star John McPhee (who is represented by Laverty, and will stay in Moto3 next season despite the departure of Petronas) as well as what can be done to reduce the tragic accidents seen in the junior Moto3/SSP classes this season…
Download the podcast here:
