Tech3 Insight - Part 5: The Hospitality Team

Posted on Jul 27, 2014 by Monster Yamaha Tech 3

When thinking about MotoGP the first thoughts coming into everybody's mind are obviously about racing, riders, mechanics and racetracks, but that's just the visible tip of the iceberg as there is another set up and team who work tirelessly behind the scenes. This dedicated section is called hospitality and consists in the case of Tech3, of three trucks. Every team competing in MotoGP has a hospitality unit to ensure that the riders and staff are well catered for and that the guests can enjoy their MotoGP experience as much as possible, but to set up such impressive structures is a demanding task.

The trucks arrive at the circuit on Monday evening to be ready for entrance to the track at 9am the following morning when they get park at their assigned position. Once the vehicles have been parked and cleaned, the building process begins instantly with the skilled staff all pulling together to construct the large unit,which is 11 metres wide and 10 metres in length and which takes close to thirty hours to setup inside and out. A thorough cleaning operation and check of all equipment is then undertaken on Thursday to ensure that everything is in order for the guests arrival on Friday.

The hospitality is a large-scale operation, where the principal duty is to prepare and serve food to the team as well as guests which can be for as many as 200 people on a busy lunch and then amounting to approximately 750 meals across a whole race weekend. The hospitality team also ensure that the two floored unit, complete with between 80 to 90 seats across both tiers is kept clean, controlled, visibly enticing along with a relaxed atmosphere for the guests and team members where they serve as many as 10,000 coffees during just the European rounds of the championship.

Anna-Katrin Nöller expertly coordinates the operation of hospitality services for the team plus assists with the guest and sponsor activity, whilst occasionally Matilde Poncharal skilfully assists the entire hospitality operation and Patricia Zakova proficiently takes care of the Tech3 team’s title backers, Monster Energy’s, requirements.

The leader in construction, assembly and structure of the unit is the experienced Denis Sarazin who also organises the logistics of the trucks and their drivers journeys with the Team Coordinator and together with Frédéric Frachon, Christophe Maignan, Nicolas Dauba, Julien Janda and Mickael Gaillet ensures that all needs are met.

Moreover, the hospitality is the perfect place to provide additional services such as rider signing sessions, providing sponsors with specialised treatments, supplying all event information to guests plus hosting business meetings and rider interviews with the global media. This huge range of duties and activities require dedication and passion for such a demanding job which can easily amount to more than 15 working hours a day.

As the racing weekend draws to a close on Sunday afternoon the hospitality unit is disassembled with the task carrying on until Monday where everything is loaded back into the three trucks and then either driven back to the Tech3 headquarters in Provence or onto the next circuit, depending on the race calendar.

The continuous endeavours of the hard working team keep the Tech3 hospitality in a professional standard and ensure that it is an ever-welcoming venue for guests to the team as well as providing exceptional services to the Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team and the Tech3 Racing Moto2 Team.

The following Insight documentaries will continue to explore the ‘behind the scenes’ aspects of the Tech3 business.