Alfa Romeo’s new managing director, Sergio Cravero, encouragingly supports the company’s decision in sponsoring the SBK Superbike World Championship and Ducati Racing until the end of 2011.

Entering in these sponsorships allows opportunities for communication and for enhancing the brand’s image, providing a springboard for new products like the limited-edition Alfa Romeo 147 Ducati Racing which was introduced last year; a 147 with a difference both aesthetically and power-wise with a 1.9JTDm 16v engine tuned to output 170bhp and 330Nm.

Alfa Romeo will be actively involved in all 14 SBK Superbike World Championship competitions whereby 10 will be held in Europe, 1 in Australia, 1 in Qatar, 1 in South Africa and 1 in USA. In 2008, these competitions attracted over 1 million spectators, as well as more than 2 billion viewers, which harmonise with Alfa Romeo’s hallmark sporting spirit. Each competition will be broadcasted by 95 TV channels, offering a total of nearly 3,500 hours of coverage in the course of the racing season. For each race, Alfa Romeo Safety Cars will be escorting each rider with a four bright red 1.4 litre turbo charged spark ignition MiTo superminis, attracting lots of attention and visibility to an audience that consists of fans at the track, car lovers and the entire sales network and customers.

During the Ducati Racing, Alfa Romeo will have an active role fielding such top riders on the Moto GP circuit as 2006 world champion Nicky Hayden and 2007 world champion Casey Stoner and they will also be sponsoring riders Michael Fabrizio and Noriyuki Haga on the Superbike circuit.

Alfa Romeo’s brand will be highly visible during all warm-ups and prior to every race in the whole constellation of competitions surrounding the SBK Superbike World Championship; the Superstock 600 European championship, the Superstock 1000 FIM Cup and the Supersport World Championship.