Japan Italy Racing, more commonly known as JiR, is a Monte Carlo based motorcycle racing team which competed in the MotoGP series from 2005 to 2008 and from 2010 to 2015 in the Moto2 class.

JiR
2015 nameJIR Racing Team
BaseMonaco Monte Carlo, Monaco
PrincipalGianluca Montiron
Rider(s)4. Switzerland Randy Krummenacher
MotorcycleKalex
TyresDunlop

Team setup

edit

The team was founded by Gianluca Montiron together with Honda Motor Europe founder Tetsuo Iida. Since the team's founding, Montiron has diversified the investments keeping the Head Office as the team's central core, although all its activities are independent. The Monaco-based company develops commercial and sport interests, including marketing and communication initiatives – such as the brand's internationalisation. Motorsport, real estate investments and corporate social responsibility (CSR) are the services provided by JiR's different companies.

JiR Italy

edit

JiR Italy S.r.l. was founded in 2009 in Castelletto di Branduzzo, Italy, some 45 km (28 mi) south of Milan. The Italian facility is well equipped for promotional activities and is located near to the Motodromo circuit, the 7 Laghi go kart and jet ski tracks.

SCI JiR

edit

SCI JiR is a real estate company that has the property of the team's facilities in Castelletto di Branduzzo and in the French Riviera.

History

edit

MotoGP (2005–2008)

edit

The team first entered the MotoGP World Championship in 2005 as Konica Minolta Honda, a single motorcycle team using the Honda RC211V with Japanese rider Makoto Tamada and Michelin as tyre supplier. A 3rd-place finish at the Japanese Grand Prix was the team's best result. The team used the same package for the 2006 season, but was unable to repeat the 2005 results finishing twelfth in the championship, with a best result of fifth at the Portuguese Grand Prix. In 2007, Shinya Nakano replaced Tamada as the rider of the new 800cc Honda RC212V. The motorcycle did not achieve the results expected finishing in seventeenth position.

The team's results improved in 2008, when 2004 125cc World Champion Andrea Dovizioso joined the team, which once again used the Honda RC212V on Michelin tyres. They were re-branded as JiR Team Scot after a joint venture with Team Scot.[1] The team ran also Yuki Takahashi in the 250cc class; Dovizioso finished fifth overall in the MotoGP standings. The team split during the season, leaving the two parts of the team competing for the rights to run a Honda in MotoGP in 2009,[2] but it was Team Scot who retained Honda support, so JiR withdrew from the top class.[3]

Moto2 (2010–2015)

edit

In 2010 the team took part in the new Moto2 class on a TSR built, Motobi branded chassis ridden by Simone Corsi and Mattia Pasini, although the latter was replaced during the season by Yusuke Teshima and Alex de Angelis. Corsi achieved third place twice, while de Angelis scored two podiums, including a victory from pole position in the Australian Grand Prix. In 2011, the team ran only one bike with de Angelis, who took another victory in Australia and clinched fourth place in the final standings.

The team signed Johann Zarco, 125cc runner-up in 2011, and Eric Granado for Moto2 in 2012.[4] Zarco finished in tenth place in the championship standings, the best-placed rookie. In 2013 former 125cc world champion Mike Di Meglio joined the team – he finished the season in 20th place in the championship, despite missing the final seven races due to a broken sacrum sustained at Brno. Five riders replaced him over those races, but no further points were accrued.

The 2014 Moto2 season started with a young rider project with Japanese GP2 champion Kohta Nozane but the premature death of his father during the off-season discouraged his participation. He was replaced by Tetsuta Nagashima, but his season was shortened by an injury suffered at the British Grand Prix. He returned for the final race at Valencia, having been replaced by Federico Caricasulo, Kenny Noyes and Tomoyoshi Koyama in between. None of the riders scored points during the season.

In 2015 the Swiss rider Randy Krummenacher joined the team, but the team left the championship at the end of the season.

Results

edit

Summary

edit
Year Class Team name Bike Riders Races Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points Pos.
2005 MotoGP Konica Minolta Honda Honda RC211V   Makoto Tamada 14 0 1 0 0 91 11th
  Jurgen van den Goorbergh 2 0 0 0 0 12 20th
2006 MotoGP Konica Minolta Honda Honda RC211V   Makoto Tamada 17 0 0 0 0 96 12th
2007 MotoGP Konica Minolta Honda Honda RC212V   Shinya Nakano 18 0 0 0 0 47 17th
2008 MotoGP JiR Team Scot MotoGP Honda RC212V   Andrea Dovizioso 18 0 1 0 0 174 5th
250cc JiR Team Scot 250 Honda RS250RW   Yuki Takahashi 16 0 3 0 0 167 5th
2010 Moto2 JiR Moto2 Motobi TSR6   Simone Corsi 17 0 2 0 0 138 5th
  Mattia Pasini[a] 6 (8) 0 0 0 0 12 28th
  Yusuke Teshima[a] 4 (5) 0 0 0 0 1 39th
  Alex de Angelis[a] 7 (12) 1 3 1 1 84 (95) 11th
2011 Moto2 JiR Moto2 Motobi TSR6   Alex de Angelis 17 1 2 1 2 174 4th
2012 Moto2 JiR Moto2 Motobi TSR6   Johann Zarco 17 0 0 0 0 94 10th
  Eric Granado 11 0 0 0 0 0 NC
2013 Moto2 JiR Moto2 Motobi TSR6   Mike Di Meglio 10 0 0 0 0 18 20th
  Kohta Nozane[a] 2 (3) 0 0 0 0 0 NC
  Jason O'Halloran 2 0 0 0 0 0 NC
  Román Ramos[a] 1 (2) 0 0 0 0 0 NC
  Fadli Immammuddin 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC
  Tetsuta Nagashima 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC
2014 Moto2 Teluru Team JiR Webike TSR TSR6
NTS NH6
  Tetsuta Nagashima 13 0 0 0 0 0 NC
  Kenny Noyes 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC
  Federico Caricasulo 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC
  Tomoyoshi Koyama 3 0 0 0 0 0 NC
2015 Moto2 JiR Moto2 Kalex Moto2 2014   Randy Krummenacher 18 0 0 0 0 31 21st
  • a Competed for other teams during the season.

MotoGP results

edit

(key)

Year Bike Tyres Riders 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Points Pos.
2005 Honda RC211V M ESP POR CHN FRA ITA CAT NED USA GBR GER CZE JPN MAL QAT AUS TUR VAL 103 9th
  Makoto Tamada 8 DNS 8 Ret 14 7 7 10 10 3 12 Ret 8 8 9
  Jurgen van den Goorbergh 6 14
2006 Honda RC211V M ESP QAT TUR CHN FRA ITA CAT NED GBR GER USA CZE MAL AUS JPN POR VAL 96 10th
  Makoto Tamada 10 14 10 6 7 9 7 11 11 Ret 11 13 14 10 10 5 12
2007 Honda RC212V M QAT ESP TUR CHN FRA ITA CAT GBR NED GER USA CZE SMR POR JPN AUS MAL VAL 47 10th
  Shinya Nakano 10 10 13 Ret Ret 13 15 14 12 Ret 12 14 10 11 16 13 16 14
2008 Honda RC212V M QAT ESP POR CHN FRA ITA CAT GBR NED GER USA CZE SMR IND JPN AUS MAL VAL 174 7th
  Andrea Dovizioso 4 8 Ret 11 6 8 4 5 5 5 4 9 8 5 9 7 3 4

References

edit
  1. ^ "JiR Team Scot is born!". crash.net. Crash Media Group. 5 November 2007. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
  2. ^ "JiR confirms Honda split". crash.net. Crash Media Group. 26 September 2008. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
  3. ^ "JiR returns – with Aprilia (and a Biaggi) in STK". crash.net. Crash Media Group. 3 April 2009. Retrieved 13 October 2010.
  4. ^ "Johann Zarco joins JiR for 2012". crash.net. Crash Media Group. 7 November 2011. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
edit