Before becoming a flagship team in the Moto2 category, a reputation confirmed by its track record of title victories, the Sito Pons structure was a protagonist of MotoGP as the fire of the 500 category, queen before it. The Spaniard, whom his country's tax authorities would have put in prison for decades before the courts decided otherwise, was a satellite of Honda. But at the time, we were far from an alliance defending the same colors and light years away from the partnerships currently claimed by KTM with Tech3 or more recently Aprilia with RNF, on the model set up by Ducati with Pramac, Gresini or VR46. It was quite the opposite...
Site Pons remembers a time and a world before when in Grand Prix, cordial understandings were rare. So much so that a team that fielded a brand's motorcycles saw the brand's factory team as its worst enemy. An era of gladiators whose effects were also felt among the drivers on the track.
Public chat speedweek, Site Pons remember : " what is today is completely different from before. We fought the Honda factory 20 years ago as Camel Pons Honda Team! They were our enemies on the race track! They weren't our friends on the slopes, they were our bitter opponents ". Not just a sporting rivalry. The survival of the team was also at stake. It was therefore a fight to the death that Pons illustrates thus: “ today, Ducati has three customer teams and when a driver from that team wins, they cheer, celebrate and rejoice as if the factory team had won. When I was with my team in MotoGP, Honda was trading our drivers and trying to take our sponsors ».
Sito Pons: “ the current situation is much better«
Being able to compare two paddocks with different morals, the Spaniard without hesitation sets his sights on the most recent one currently in operation: “ the situation is much better because more manufacturers are involved he says. " The times are much closer, the competition is tougher, many factories have competitive bikes. It's good. Satellite teams like Pramac can still win today. The structure has changed compared to my time in queen class. Because some factories now run a customer team like their B-Team, like a sort of second factory team. They supply the current factory machines and sign the drivers. It's completely different than before ».
The boss of 63 years ends: “ it's something else now. Yamaha had a successful satellite team with Petronas, Ducati works closely with Pramac, Aprilia has now joined forces with the RNF team and pay the pilots. It's similar with KTM and GASGAS. I think the current system is better because private teams benefit from it and this enhances the championship as a whole ».
