SAMUELA DE NARDI IN THE SUZUKA 8 HOURS
18 July 2005 - Aprilia

On July 31st Aprilia will participate to the Suzuka 8 Hours, the world’s most famous endurance race, and Samuela De Nardi will become the first Italian woman to ride in this gruelling competition.

Besides Samuela, also the rider Daniele Veghini and the journalist Federico Aliverti will form the Aprilia – Motociclismo Team and ride the RSV 1000 on the Japanese track.

The 21-year-old girl from Vittorio Veneto will become the first Italian woman to ride in the Suzuka 8 Hours. In the previous 28 editions of the race, only seven women have ever taken part: two Japaneses, two Americans, two Canadians and one Dutch. Ten years have gone by since the last woman rode at Suzuka, and the most recent European entry, by Geerie Van Rooyen from Holland, dates back to 1982.

First raced in 1978, the 8 Hours is famed for the massive crowds it attracts, for its role as an official race in the World Endurance Championship and for the fierce competition with which the four big Japanese manufacturers approach it, fielding prototypes developed specially for the event and the best riders of the day. It is no coincidence that Suzuka winners include names like Rossi (the only Italian to have won the event), Edwards, Ukawa, Kato, Barros, Haga, Gardner, Doohan, and Rainey, with top riders like Spencer, Kocinski and Gibernau relegated to the lower steps of the podium. The race is held in a torrid climate with incredibly high levels of humidity that test the resistance of riders and machines, both of which have to be cooled by massive doses of ice at every pit stop.

For Aprilia Samuela De Nardi, currently leading the European Women’s Championship and running second in the Italian Championship, this race represent a great opportunity:

“I am delighted,” Samuela told us. The Suzuka 8 Hours is a racing legend, and the chance to take part at just 21 years of age is a great honour. Aprilia has already asked me to intensify my training to cope with the tough conditions there. At the last European championship meeting in Rijeka, before they confirmed my engagement, the team left me short of petrol in the trials to see if I could push the RSV a few kilometres back to the box, in full leathers and under a blazing sun. In Endurance racing, if you fall or break down, you have to push the bike back to the pits unaided. We shall be racing in the stock bike category, for machines closely derived from standard road-going models. Out of 76 entries, there are only three non-Japanese bikes (our Aprilia, a Ducati and a BMW). There are only eight teams from Europe and two of those are Italian. And I’m the only woman, so it’s a great responsibility for me. It’s going to be the sort of adventure I’ll want to tell my grandchildren about, like racing at Le Mans or Indianapolis for a car driver, I suppose. The bike is the same as the one I ride in the European Women’s Championship, so though my team-mates have more experience than me, I’m confident I won’t be far behind them in lap times. As far the result goes, you just can’t say what might happen in long races like this. Our aim is to be the best twin out there, and maybe even the best in our class. The RSV has shown how competitive it is in stock racing, in Italy and throughout Europe. What frightens me most are the Japanese riders. You can see from the GP championship that they’ve been riding at Suzuka all their lives. These guys know every inch of the track and live for this one race. And they’re determined to win. They tell me that Suzuka comes as a shock to European riders in Japan for the first time, like us. Especially for the first few laps of testing, while we’re still riding cautiously and getting used to the circuit, these Japanese guys whiz past you from all angles without even closing the throttle. For the moment the only way we can train at Suzuka is on videogames! Nevertheless I’m looking forward to getting to grips with the circuit there and showing what I’m made of.”

www.aprilia.com

More News
  For July 2005
  From Aprilia
  For Racing General
  Biker247.com Home Page