Renowned for his support of young talent, Fiorenzo Caponera will continue this season as he prepares to provide five riders for the 125cc World Championship grid.

His main challenger will be the young German Jonas Folger, who was the 2009 Rookie of the Year and has already shown great signs of competitiveness in his debut season. Also part of the WWR Team will be Italy’s Luca Marconi (ex-CBC Corse), French youngster Alexis Masbou (ex-Loncin Racing), Norwegian rookie Sturla Fagerhaug (second in the most recent Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup) and Malaysian rider Khairuddin Muhammad Zulfahmi.

The five are currently engaged in a training programme called ‘Empowerment’, about which Caponera said: “This year’s project started with a series of tests near Bologna, after which we designed a specific training plan for each rider. We are still in the winter training phase which includes fitness, motocross, supermotard, gym work, and a range of other activities that involves an English course and strategy games.”

“The programme is developing in different parts of Europe, and we are currently in Italy with Folger, Fagerhaug, Zulfahmi and Marconi, whilst Masbou is in Switzerland.”

It is likely that Caponera’s team will be split into two formations, with one consisting of three riders and the other of two. He added: “The structure is not yet decided but my intention would be to have a junior team with Fagerhaug and Zulfahmi, with the three more experienced riders in another team.”

The presence of a Malaysian rider in Zulfahmi, who rode in the 125cc race in his home Grand Prix in the penultimate round of the 2009 season at Sepang, is of particular interest. He showed enough potential to make the move to the World Championship on a full-time basis, although the objectives for Zulfahmi in 2010 will be to settle on the World stage.

“With him we have decided to prepare a much less demanding programme to enable him to adapt,” explained Caponera. “Our objective is to be classified in all World Championship races, and prepare for a possible second good year.”

Caponera concluded by confirming his team will be present for testing at Valencia and Jerez in March, with Jonas Folger taking to the track on an Aprilia RSA.

Foreløpig startliste 125 cc (Sturla har valgt å kjøre med nummer 50, som var det nummeret han debuterte med i VM. Det er også et nummer som foreløpig er ledig med tanke på senere overgang til Moto2 og MotoGP:

Entry list for 2010 125cc World Championship

Wednesday, 27 January 2010

The 2010 provisional entry list for the 125cc World Championship has been released by the FIM.