The IRTA is one of the important actors of the MotoGP World Cup. The “International Road-Racing Teams Association” was born as a need for the teams for being represented, when the Motorcyclism World Cup was governed under the interests of FIM and promoters. It is an organism that is “guilty” that motorcycling has advanced and improved in important aspects such as security and, also, in the professionalization of the championship.
For 20 years (2005) the maximum representative of the agency has been Hervé Poncharal, which in turn replaced Sito Pons. In these two decades, the Frenchman has been in front of both his own team, the Tech3 that he founded in 1990 together with Guy Coulon, as well as the Association.
In these two decades as president of IRTA he has achieved new rights for the teams, which have achieved more part of the cake and have become stronger interlocutors in the management of the championship, together with Dorna, FIM and MSMA, representatives of the factories.
Apparently, the manufacturers were the one who asked for a change in IRTA
It was precisely the MSMA that suggested a change in front of the Irta after so long, as Poncharal himself has recognized in an interview with Speedweek. In that same interview, the Frenchman who has always presented and has been unanimously chosen, also raises his successor:
“Twenty years are many. It is not usual for someone to remain so long in such a position. Change is positive.”
“Until now, I was always chosen by acclamation, without other candidates. But on the occasion of the Argentina’s GP, while preparing our May Assembly in Silverstone, where the new president will be chosen, it was the builders who raised the possibility of a change within IRTA. I meditated it, I spoke it with Carmelo Ezpeleta, who has supported me and inspired me as no one in my career, and finally I proposed myself to a successor. Cecchinello. “
Cecchinello is, after Poncharal himself, the owner of the team that takes longer, although the truth is that as independent we would only add to these two, Nadia Padovani (Gressini) and Paolo Campinoti (Pramac), because the rest of the grid equipment are directly factory equipment. For now, as Hervé himself acknowledges, Lucio is the only candidate for the presidency of the IRTA.
“At the beginning,” Poncharal confesses, “Lucio was surprised, but he did not reject the idea. It is true that he already has enough work with his team … but after talking to me and Carmelo, finally gave the approval. For now, he is the only one in the list of candidates. I am sure that these days I will spill some tear.”
During this weekend, on the occasion of the United Kingdom GP of MotoGP that will take place in Silverstone, the IRTA General Assembly will be held and if there is no other candidate, Cecchinello will be the new president.
