Leopard Racing sprint into the 2019 Moto3 class of MotoGP as strong contenders to take out the Championship title once again.
It will be the team’s fifth year racing in Moto3 having entered the category in 2015. They boast an impressive track record and won the Championship in their debut year with rider, Danny Kent, and again in 2017 with Joan Mir.
Leopard Racing finished last season with strong results with riders, Enea Bastianini and Lorenzo Dalla Porta finishing the season in fourth and fifth position respectively.
This saw Leopard’s Bastianini move up to Moto2, along with the season’s top three riders – Moto3 Champion Jorge Martin, Fabio Giannantonio and Marco Bezzecchi, all moving to the 600cc four-stroke class.
In retrospect, this places the Italian, Dalla Porta, as the top contender for the Moto3 Championship along with Aron Canet who will ride for Max Biaggi’s new team, Max Racing.
Dalla Porta returns to the Leopard Racing garage for his second year on the team where a new face joins in the form of Spanish rider, Marcos Ramirez.
No stranger to the Leopard family, 21-year-old Ramirez rode for the team in the 2016 FIM CEV Moto3 Junior World Championship and says that for him they are “one of the best current teams.”
I love how they work inside the box, how they find solutions when there is a problem and I can’t wait to start the season,” Ramirez says.
It’s back to school for the two boys who now share the same workspace after rivalling off in the Junior World Championship in 2016, won by Dalla Porta.
“Lorenzo was my rival in 2016 as we rode together in the Junior Championship. He is quite fast and very aerodynamic at the straights,” Ramirez says of his new teammate.
Both gunning for the 2019 title, the boys, who have not spent much time together apart from preseason tests share a respectful relationship but do not shy away from the fact they both want the win.
Dalla Porta speaks about Ramirez, “Up until now he’s been fast and will be a big rival and a teammate this season.”
The 2019 MotoGP Season starts on March 10 in Qatar and Leopard Racing know exactly what spot they are hunting down.