Adieu Inotec as Teka takes over
By TMX Archives on 15th Jan 09
INOTEC has withdrawn as title sponsor and owner of the official Suzuki factory-supported team based in Germany, but the team will continue... with Teka as new title sponsor and owner.The switch became evident as the teams set up their backdrops in the Westfalenhalle, in Dortmund, on Friday morning, but team manager Thomas Ramsbacher was quick to quell any fears of further consequence. Inotec advised us back in the autumn that there would be cutbacks, and that in the present economic climate they were no longer able to continue as title sponsor and team-owner, even though they will continue to support the team.
Marcus Bau had already indicated that the Teka Group was interested in supporting us, and I am glad to say that Teka has taken over the team which will now be known as Teka Suzuki Europe World MX2'.
We will have three riders. Xavier Boog and Ken Roczen, from the fifth GP in Portugal once he has reached his 15th birthday, were already confirmed and Yohei Kojima will join is too at the explicit request of Suzuki Japan.
I don't expect him to be racing top ten, but he is an experienced test rider and will help us tremendously to progress.
Marcus Bau, Teka CEO, explained his involvement: We had already planned some input into the team, and when it was evident that Inotec were unable to continue as before, we were pleased to be able to assist both the team and Suzuki. I will not pretend that we are unaffected by the global recession, but we have costed the move and are in a position to expand our involvement in the GPs with Suzuki.
Bau also explained that there was no link to Teka's restricted programme with Bodo Schmidt: Long before this opportunity arose, we had already made an offer to Bodo to continue to support him on the German national scene only.