http://www.rpmracing.esHISTORY OF R.P.M RACING

The first important event that marked the beginning of R.P.M. Racingís activities was the Indoor Trial which, in 2007, will celebrate its 30th anniversary. It first started as an occasional and merely promotional event. It then became a professional event with the specialisation of the riders and evolved to become what it is today: an independent specialty within motor racing which does not just organise competition in Spain but championships on a world level.

At the same time, they started organising speed races. The first of these was the Criterium Solo Moto which began in 1979 and which converted itself into the cradle of a whole generation of Spanish motorcycling championships. Thanks to this unique and unforgettable competition, Spain started to see a range of highly professional riders who have given Spain its present ranking. For these first competitions, under the motto: "you wish to be known?. Follow me" the promising and fully dedicated and enthusiastic youth of the motor racing world competed to win an actual motorcycle. If they were talented they would compete in European races and were discovered by a motor racing team which enabled them to progress. Among the participants in the Criterium Solo Moto we find practically all the great names in Spain (Alex Crivillé, Carlos Cardús, Jorge Martínez Aspar, Sito Pons, Juan Garriga, Carlos Checa, Emilio Alzadora, Alberto Puig, Sete Gibernau, Dani Amatriain) and international names (Phil Read, John Kocinski, etc.).

Within the same framework of speed races the Superprestigio Solo Moto. also appeared. This was the only international motor race held in Spain at that time a long time before the construction (or even the idea of building) of a Catalonian circuit such as Montmeló. At that time, races took place at the Calafat circuit (Tarragona) once a year - by the end of the season - it held up to 45,000 spectators. The year of the epic competition Garriga / Sito (1987) is unforgettable. Riders who were classified in the Superprestigio Solo Moto competed against the world elite who exclusively came to Spain for these races.

After the Criterium came the Campeonato de Europa de Motociclismo (European Motor Racing Championship) ) with the participation of great riders still active such as Valentino Rossi, Sete Gibernau, Sebastián Porto, Oliver Jacks, etc...

For a while R.P.M. Racing also been organised the unforgettable 24 hours of Montjuic, until an unfortunate accident put an end to this with it being advised to use dirt tracks specifically designed for this type of motor racing. By then the idea of creating a circuit for professional races had been conceived and entailed the subsequent construction of the Catalonia Circuit. RPM Racing was also involved throughout the process putting their know-how and their financial and human resources at the service of this great Project. In fact, the first motor race held on the Catalonia Circuit was handled by RPM Racing, with the Superprestigio de 500 cc.

At the same time, the Supercross, speciality was increasingly developing entailing the organisation of the Indoor Enduro, another really innovative specialty at world level through RPM Racing. Since 1992, RPM Racing, is in charge of the commercial promotion of the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya Juan Porcar (managing Director of R.P.M. Racing) was the first Spaniard to take part in the Dakar Rally with an Ossa, thus starting the Spanish legend of participants (Carlos Más, Jordi Arcarons, Nani Roma, Miguel Prieto, José María Serviá etc.). A few years later, Juan Porcar, through RPM Racing, gave impetus to the Spanish presence in this Rally. The company organised and coordinated the multiple stages of theDakar Rally in Spain (including the two starts from Granada and one from Barcelona) and handled the Spanish TV rights of this African competition. R.P.M. Racing owns the Dakar Rally rights for Spain and organises the Spanish stages of this mythical competition as well as providing support and logistic coverage for their representatives

Since the involvement of R.P.M. Racing in the sporting and logistic organisation of this rally, the number of Spanish participants has been increasing. Each year Spain is represented by a very impressive group of participants up to the point that the usual briefings relating to night races benefited from simultaneous interpretations in Spanish and in English. Moreover, the official website of the Dakar has been entirely translated into Spanish enabling the press and family members to remain permanently informed of the situation of the participants.

In 1998, R.P.M. Racing decided to run a risk with a new type of car racing and built the first model and the 20 first single-seater future racing cars which were greeted with great enthusiasm by the mass audience. The championship named Open Fortuna by Nissan was launched. It was later renamed the European Movistar by Nissan in 1999 (the year in which the winner was the extremely young Fernando Alonso) and it evolved until it became the World Series by Renault. Among the sponsors of this first championship were corporations as important as Nissan (until 2004) or Fortuna. From 2005 onward, World Series, was co-organised with Renault.

In addition, R.P.M. Racing is also organising the Barcelona Marathon in 2006 after having decided to sign an Agreement with the Barcelona Town Council to head this popular Catalonian race for the next five years. This first marathon organised by R.P.M. Racing witnessed the second biggest participation in its history with more than 7,000 national and international participants.

Among the companies which have chosen R.P.M. Racing as the organiser of their events are some important companies on a national and international level such as Nissan, Tabacalera / Altadis, TelefÛnica, Vodafone, Transmediterranea / Acciona, Coca Cola, Honda, Santiveri, Renault, Segura Viudas. R.P.M. Racing also entered into collaboration agreements with A.S.O. (the French company organising - among others - the Dakar Rally and the Tour de France), the Town Councils of Barcelona, Madrid, Granada, Malaga and the Andalusian Government, as well as both the main national circuits (Circuit of Catalunya, Circuit of Jerez, Circuit of Jarama, Circuit of Calafat, and the international ones (Silverstone, Magny Cours, Spa, Monza, Le Mans, Zolder, Misano, Mónaco, A1 Ring -Austria-, Oschersleben, Nürburgring, Istambul Park etc.)

As part of the Alesport Group, R.P.M. Racing takes advantage of the synergies created within this group and in particular, those generated by Alesport, the only Spanish corporation fully dedicated to the writing of leading articles of publications from the motor race world.