Kawasaki and the US energy drink concern have a long history of successful collaboration on both sides of the Atlantic and, since Monster Energy became the KRT title sponsor in MXGP in 2014, they have found success together with GP victories by France’s Gautier Paulin, US-American superstar Ryan Villopoto, Belgium’s Clement Desalle and, most recently, Romain Febvre.
The 2015 world champion, who joined the KRT ranks for the 2020 season, immediately gelled with the outstanding KX450-SR factory bike to mount the podium on his debut in Green and add five further podiums, including a maiden victory at Mantova in Italy, to narrowly miss a series medal despite sitting out the first two rounds. The Frenchman is joined this year by exciting Italian Ivo Monticelli, who is universally expected to achieve a top-ten world ranking in his fourth season in the premier class of off-road racing.
KRT has enjoyed a proud history in the motocross World Championship for more than a quarter of a century with an impressive list of world titles for Stefan Everts, Sebastien Tortelli and Mickael Maschio. KRT’s high-profile commitment in the MXGP world series has been directed for the past thirteen years by Thierry Chizat Suzzoni, the accomplished French entrepreneur who took over the reigns following the untimely death of the team founder, the genial Dutch tuner Jan de Groot.
With a keen eye for talent and social compatibility Thierry has diligently built a closely-knit workforce which, aided by technical manager Vincent Bereni, will run under his personal direction this year. Throughout recent years KRT has developed an intimate working relationship and technical exchange with Kawasaki Motors Europe, Kawasaki Japan and the Kawasaki Motors Corporation in the USA to deliver worldwide success with the KX450-SR, the flagship of Kawasaki’s off-road range.