Whether it is Valentino Rossi, Cal Crutchlow or Bradley Smith from the world of MotoGP, or even ‘actual’ British royalty (whatever your opinion of them, you can’t deny they have some public profile), a famous face or two is not out of the ordinary for the Isle of Man TT.
This year, we have had a variety of well-known people turning up for the races, from all across the racing sphere.
The Pramac Racing MotoGP team posted on Instagram yesterday (8 June 2022) with a photo of their team boss Paolo Campinoti alongside some racing legends of the past. One of the famous faces on the Isle with the Pramac boss was former Ferrari and McLaren F1 driver Gerhard Berger. Berger won multiple F1 Grands Prix in his career (10 in total), and enjoyed two spells at Ferrari with a McLaren stint thrown in the middle.
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Stefano Domenicali arrived at the peak of Scuderia Ferrari some time after Berger had left, but he was the Team Principal at the Italian team the last time they won a World Championship: the Constructors’ title of 2008. Domenicali is now the CEO of F1, and his relationship with Campinoti is the reason the F1 logo appears on the back of the ‘salad box’ of Ducati’s Desmosedici Grand Prix bike.
The final ‘famous face’ with Campinoti at the TT is a legend of both Grand Prix and the TT: Giacomo Agostini. The Italian legend of course won 15 World Championships in his time as a Grand Prix racer. In that time, the TT was a regular fixture of the World Championship calendar, and Agostini won 10 races on the Isle of Man.
Elsewhere on the Isle, 2003 World Rally Champion Petter Solberg has been a guest of race sponsor Monster Energy. Solberg’s 2003 title triumph with Subaru was, in essence, the only time the combination of Sebastien Loeb and Citroen were beaten to a World Rally title. Loeb, together with his co-driver Daniel Elena, went on to win every World Rally Championship between 2004 and 2012, before Volkswagen picked up the mantle in 2013 with Sebastien Ogier, who won eight titles himself and will race the Le Mans 24 Hour this weekend. As for Solberg, he switched to Rallycross in 2013 after 14 years in the WRC, and his son, Oliver Solberg, now drives for the factory Hyundai team in the WRC, this year on a part-time program sharing with Loeb’s ex-Citroen teammate Dani Sordo.
Solberg posted a photo of himself on Twitter with some other top level Monster-backed athletes. Tai Woffinden, the three-time Speedway Grand Prix Champion, was one of those, as well as four-time SGP champion Greg Hancock, reigning British Superbike Champion Tarran Mackenzie, and ex-500cc Grand Prix factory rider Randy Mamola.
