DOWNLOAD VIDEO
COPYRIGHT FREE
Link to Youtube
MP4 File (55 MB)
MOV File (350 MB)
Exhibition consisting of 50 photos from 1969 to the present day, and five legendary motorcycles, coincides with the Spanish GP and the commemoration of Jerez as Motorcycling Capital of the World
Repsol, in collaboration with the city of Jerez and World Championship organisers Dorna, will on Thursday open an exhibition entitled Motorsports Legends 1969-2015 – Angel Nieto to Marc Marquez at Claustros de Santo Domingo.. This exhibition pays tribute to the teams and riders who have represented Repsol in all competitions and all the people behind the great sportsmen. Names such as Salvador Canellas, Angel Nieto, Carlos Sainz, Alex Criville, Mick Doohan, Pedro de la Rosa, Valentino Rossi, Nani Roma, Marc Coma, Toni Bou, Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez, from nearly five decades of racing, are featured in a review of effort, innovation, teamwork and enthusiasm.
Repsol’s archive is made up of more than 42,000 photographs. For this exhibition 50 images have been selected, in some cases photos that are already part of the collective imagination. Next to them one can also see legendary motorcycles, from Angel Nieto’s 50cc Derbi to Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez’ Honda RC213V, from the pioneers who wore the Repesa ‘R’ to the current fluorescent orange. In recent years, the Repsol name has been consolidated amongst fans around the world, going from a sponsor to a symbol of technology and high level competition.
The opening ceremony is expected to be attended by the Mayoress of Jerez, María José García-Pelayo, the CEO of Dorna, Carmelo Ezpeleta, Repsol’s Head of Sponsorship, Beatriz Tobio, MotoGP riders Marc Marquez (World Champion in 2013 and 2014) and Nicky Hayden (World Champion in 2006), Johann Zarco (current leader in Moto2), Julian Simon (also a member of the Moto2 grid and 125cc World Champion in 2009) and Moto3 riders Enea Bastianini, Fabio Quartararo, Jorge Navarro and Maria Herrera.
Also expected to attend are other pioneers of Spanish motorcycling such as Angel Nieto, Carlos Cardus, Jorge Martinez Aspar, Emilio Alzamora and Herri Torrontegui. Before the opening of the exhibition, some of these riders and former riders will go through Jerez at the wheel of cars from the Repsol Classic Team, including an Osca, an Elva and an Alpine.
The exhibition will be free to visit from Thursday afternoon until May 17th. Some of the photographs have been included in the Repsol image archive after an exhaustive scouring of analogue records, mainly by the publishing group Motorpress-Iberian. In this process, which lasted six months, 3,000 documents were digitised, including slides, which today form part of 42,000 images available to the Repsol Media Service.
History of sports sponsorship
Sponsorship by companies of high-level sports teams is a practice that began to be habitual from the 1970s, coinciding with the rise of live television broadcasts of major sporting events. Football, mainly in Europe, was the main showcase for these alliances.
In Spain it is unusual to see long-term sports sponsorship, except for those in which the company has a direct link with a city. Examples illustrating this situation are football club Celta de Vigo and the Malaga basketball team, with partnerships of 30 and 38 years with a car manufacturer and a financial entity, respectively.
In 1969, Repsol was the first company in Spain to put their logo in motorsport. Until then, only vehicle manufacturers were present in this field. Industrial developments in the seventies led to this approach, firstly in the field of lubricants and motorsports -which led to the creation of Scuderia Repsol- and then motorcycling, from 1971 with Angel Nieto.
The Repsol Honda MotoGP team is the most durable partnership in the series, and also the most successful in the history of the World Championship. With this union, the Japanese factory takes advantage of a top-level sponsor which is also a supplier of racing fuels and lubricants, whilst Repsol are linked to the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world and are placed at the forefront of innovation in their sector, benefitting from the most demanding tests for their products.
Repsol has sponsored the second most popular sport in Spain for around half a decade. In all these years, Repsol has been present in virtually all disciplines and categories, supporting teams, riders and competitions and constantly backing motorsport from grass roots level up.
{youtube}vtszJ6FUomc{/youtube}
