It was an action-packed fourth day for the Yamaha VR46 Master Camp students. VR46 Rider Academy's Franco Morbidelli, Luca Marini, Francesco Bagnaia and Andrea Migno helped the students at the Fisio Gym in the morning, before Nicolò Bulega took over in the afternoon when the young talents hit the Misanino KCE World Circuit Marco Simoncelli and got serious about MiniGP and go-kart racing.
Still excited from meeting Valentino Rossi yesterday, 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) couldn't wait to find out what the Master Camp had in store for them next. Soon four VR46 Academy riders assembled at the Fisio Gym to keep them company as the group split into two: one half went on to participate in a Pilates class, a new experience for the Master Camp students, as the others trained with the VR46 Academy riders. Half way through the gym-session the groups swapped places.
With the Pilates helping to relax the riders' muscles, they were refreshed and ready to start on the next lesson given by Moto3™ rider Bulega. He explained the perfect line and gear changes for MiniGP bike racing at the Misanino track, before they were ready to suit up and step aboard their Master Camp mini bikes.
After a few outings on track, the riders felt confident they could handle a bit of a challenge, whilst being cheered on by flat track expert Marco Belli, who came as a spectator. The traditional Master Camp MiniGP race was won by Kalinin, ahead of Schotman and De La Vega in second and third place respectively. Following the thrills of the race, the young protégés prolonged the experience and headed back out on track in go-karts. They soon found a good rhythm and held a friendly but hard-fought match, which was won by Coppola. De La Vega came second and Ferreira third.
So far, the riders have acquired a variety of experiences and skills, which prepares them for more track action on the final day of the Master Camp.
Franco Morbidelli: “In my opinion [the Master Camp] is a wonderful thing. They are all young guys of 15, 16, 19 years old, who have this big opportunity, which is that they‘re able to train with us and see our life-style. They do all the activities that we do, followed in an impeccable and fantastic manner by the whole Yamaha team. It is nice to see something like that done by Yamaha for young riders.”
Francesco Bagnaia: “I think that they are [a] very envied [group of] riders because they can come here and spend time with Vale and our group. We‘re always available for them and we help them a lot, especially in the morning, when we go to the gym with them and we try to do something with all of us together. In my opinion it is a great opportunity for them, because they can see everything we do. If I was a young rider I would love to get a call from Yamaha to participate in the Master Camp.”