At the dawn of this 2023 MotoGP season, there are seven riders who have changed helmet brands to face their opponents: fabio quartararo, Aleix Espargaró, Alex Rins, Raul Fernandez, Pol Espargaro, Jorge Martín et Jack Miller.
The motivations are not always, or even often, technical, since all the helmets used have been approved (FRHHe-01) by the FIM with great rigor, but more frequently financial.
The last two riders mentioned have therefore given in to the lure of Alpinestars, a newcomer to MotoGP even if the brand is known worldwide for its quality leathers, and even its motocross helmets. They were not the Italian firm's preferred target for launching its Supertech R10, but in the absence of evil thrushes, we eat blackbirds...
Jorge Martín et Jack Miller therefore abandoned their Shark and AGV respectively to adopt the headgear developed, or at least tried, by Andrea Dovizioso during the test in Misano.
Annual contracts oblige, it was during the MotoGP test in Sepang that the two riders were able to publicly use their new helmets for the first time, and thus discover their behavior in quite varied conditions ranging from dry weather to rain, at speeds of more than 330 km/h.
Both riders were full of praise for their new helmets, starting with Jorge Martín who will now be dressed from head to toe by the Italian brand: “ I really like how the helmet works, the way it fits my head is very important and I'm really comfortable in it. The helmet is very important because we go very, very fast, almost 340 km/h and it works perfectly: it is really stable. »
To Jack Miller, it’s a complete change after having been linked to Dainese and AGV for a long time, but a return to the Alpinestars family: “ I'm really happy to be where we are, and being back at Alpinestars is cool: a completely new start this year. I'm really happy with the first time I wore it on track, the visibility is amazing and luckily here in Malaysia we were able to test it in all sorts of conditions, with humidity and also a bit of rain. I was very, very happy with the way he behaved in these conditions. They did a fantastic job designing this helmet. When you have someone like Dovi to help you with the process, he's a meticulous guy. If he agreed to wear it and liked it, I know they worked hard. »
To date, no marketing date for the Supertech R10 has yet been announced.
