JiR announces the beginning of his activity in the MotoGP World Championship, the top class of the motorcycle racing.
JiR (Japan Italy Racing) is the company managed by Tetsuo Iida, whom up until 2002 was the President of Honda Europe NV, and the Italian Managing Director Luca Montiron. The team will be geared up to compete at the top in the MotoGP category.

Makoto Tamada will be the rider for JiR in the 2005 season. This talented Japanese, who has achieved two victories and three pole positions, making his mark as a new star in the past season, will have at his disposal a Honda RC211V with Michelin tyres.

The prestigious worldwide Japanese company Konica Minolta Holdings, Inc. will join JiR as ‘title sponsor’ of the team will be known as the ‘Konica Minolta Honda Team’.
Konica Minolta Holdings, Inc. was established in August 2003 through integration of Konica Corporation and Minolta Co., Ltd. The Group is a global company with 37,000 employees, providing a variety of products ranging from digital cameras and films for consumers, copy machines, medical instruments and printing products for businesses, to devices including optical pickup lenses.

Tetsuo Iida, JiR President: ‘The announcement of this time is very important for me, because it means the realisation of the challenging spirit I have learnt in Honda for a long time. I appreciate very much the support of the two important global companies Konica Minolta and Honda. I hope we will realise every time an excitement race for all the people loves motorcycle racing. Our objective in the creation of JiR is surly an important one and it will require a particular full dedication. The title of World Champion is our sincere goal’.

Luca Montiron, JiR Managing Director: ‘I am proud of what we have achieved in such a short time, all this is thanks to the support of Konica Minolta and Honda Racing.
It is now the moment to do our best effort to create a good organisation and to produce the best results. I am sure that the direction taken are the right one and I strongly feel that Makoto has matured a lot in the past two seasons. He has to be considered now as ready to reach always the top positions. The technical direction of the team will be headed by the engineer Giulio Bernardelle. The team will consist of a mix of Japanese and Italian technicians’.

Makoto Tamada, Konica Minolta Honda rider: ‘I’m not able to wait any more to begin this new challenge. I feel very lucky to have this level of infrastructure exclusively dedicated to me. It will be a very demanding season for sure, but I have a great motivation and I’m sure we will be able to reach important results by the technical packet we have at our disposal’.

For more details contact:

Paco Latorre
Communications Director
Dorna Sports
Tel: +34 93 473 8494
Fax: +34 93 372 4103
pacolatorre@dorna.com