Six New Students Embark on Yamaha VR46 Master Camp Adventure

Six new protégées travelled to Cattolica, Italy, to kick off the fourth edition of the prestigious Yamaha VR46 Master Camp training programme, established by nine-time World Champion Valentino Rossi, Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd, and the VR46 Riders Academy.

The third edition of this event, held in May this year, saw the origin of Master Camp students expand from Asia to global and this trend is continued in this week's five-day programme. Yamaha and the VR46 Riders Academy are again excited to welcome riders hailing from all over the world.

Italy's Alfonso Coppola (19), France's Enzo De La Vega (17), Finland's Kimi Patova (15), Ukraine's Mykyta Kalinin (18), Brazil's Renzo Ferreira (15) and the Netherlands' Robert Schotman (18) completed the traditional intake ceremony yesterday. After the warm reception from VR46 Riders Academy Director Alessio 'Uccio' Salucci and the Yamaha VR46 Master Camp staff, including a dinner with the VR46 Riders Academy, the new students are raring to start training today.

Based on the previous three editions, the programme for the fourth Master Camp has been tailored to the level of the new recruits in such a way that it will allow the riders to gain both valuable skills on track (on-road and flat track) as well as theoretical knowledge.

The timetable for July 24th - 28th includes gym sessions and various riding activities with the VR46 Academy riders, mixed with theoretical lessons by the Andreani Group and renowned racing expert, Pietro Caprara, the Sky Racing Team VR46's Technical Director and Crew Chief.

Instructors attending the riding sessions are VR46 Riders Academy's Franco Morbidelli, Francesco Bagnaia, Andrea Migno, Nicolò Bulega, and three-time English Flat Track Champion and two-time American and European Flat Track Champion Marco Belli. They will monitor the Master Camp students' progress and help the young riders to further boost their performances as they continue their run in the 2017 FIM Supersport 300 World Championship (WorldSSP300) and Yamaha Motor Europe's Yamaha R3 bLU cRU Challenge from August 18th - 20th at the Lausitzring in Germany.

Comments

Alessio Salucci
"The feeling of starting the fourth Yamaha VR46 Master Camp is fantastic, especially because it's our first European group - it's a new experience again! The build-up of excitement at the start of the programme is motivating for everyone. The riders can't wait to get started and of course the Master Camp staff feels the same way, so I'm very happy. I'm looking forward to seeing these new guys ride at the VR46 Motor Ranch as well as in Misano and at the Misanino circuit, it's going to be an exciting week. I'm always thrilled when there's a Master Camp, because each one is unique and there is nothing that quite compares to it."

Alfonso Coppola
"My first impression of the Yamaha VR46 Master Camp is great! It was a pleasure to attend the opening ceremony and meet Uccio and the Master Camp staff. It's impressive to see Yamaha and VR46 working hard together to organise this project and I feel very grateful to be a part of this programme. It's great to be here with the other Yamaha R3 bLU cRU Challenge riders, we're all very close and have known each other for quite a while now. The Master Camp is a great opportunity for us to learn together and discuss racing with the VR46 Academy riders. I'm very happy to be here. I'm really looking forward to riding at the VR46 Motor Ranch and it would be a dream come true to see Valentino Rossi riding there. Before the start of the Master Camp, I've trained a bit on an oval flat track to get some experience in a discipline that I hadn't tried before."

Enzo De La Vega
"I think the Yamaha VR46 Master Camp will be a great addition to my usual training. We will have the opportunity to try riding on a flat track and riding on MiniGP bikes and, not only does that sound like it will be a lot of fun, but it will also help me gain experience. It will be a full-on week, so I have prepared myself physically by running. Other than that, I hope that the experience of me riding my YZF-R3 in normal race weekends will form a good basis to work from during this week in the riding sessions. "

Kimi Patova
"It's great to be here and I'm glad I get to share the experience with the other Yamaha R3 bLU cRU Challenge riders. We get to learn together from the VR46 Academy riders, who have so much experience and great skills. I'm sure I can learn a lot from them! I'm looking forward to making improvements with my riding and gaining speed. I trained as I usually would for a normal race week. I wanted to be fit, as this is my first time riding on a flat track."

Mykyta Kalinin
"First of all, I was very excited to meet the VR46 Academy riders yesterday. I know them from watching Moto2 and Moto3. I was pleasantly surprised by how the Yamaha VR46 Master Camp and the VR46 staff welcomed us and even handed us a lot of gifts. They gave us such a warm welcome, I wasn't expecting that and I really appreciate it. Just like everybody else, I'm really looking forward to riding the different bikes on the different tracks, and also the karting should be fun, but first and foremost I'm excited to start the first day - I can't wait any longer! "

Renzo Ferreira
"The start of the Yamaha VR46 Master Camp was awesome: from the opening presentation to the welcome dinner with the VR46 Academy riders. After the great first evening I'm most looking forward to riding the mini bikes and riding on the VR46 Motor Ranch's flat track. I've been training in the gym a lot in preparation for this week. Other than that, I've been riding flat track and supermoto and doing road racing at home on my YZF-R3 and the other bikes that I have. "

Robert Schotman
"My first impression has been very positive so far: everything and everyone here is very nice. I'm really looking forward to starting the training sessions. It would be great if we can meet Valentino Rossi, but I think riding at the VR46 Motor Ranch will be really nice too. All the planned riding sessions sound great - at the ranch, Misano and the mini bike track - so that's something I'm looking forward to. I took extra care to make sure that I packed everything I would need for this programme, so I'm well-prepared. Other than that, I'm keeping an open mind and would like to take in everything that comes my way, in order to learn as much as possible."