The rooftop of the Hotel Casa Fuster overlooks Passeig de Gracia: the wide, leafy and ornate shopping thoroughfare in Barcelona, home to restaurants, posh shops and magnificent buildings like Casa Batlló or Milà. For the coming week there will be some new ‘additions’ to the interiors of the amenities: try Marc Marquez’s RCV, Nani Roma’s Dakar winning KTM, Nicky Hayden’s 2008 anniversary special Honda, Pedro de la Rosa’s 1999 F1 car, Toni Bou’s Montesa Cota, a Fiat 124 Abarth rally car, Alex Criville and Mick Doohan’s NSR500s, Sito Pons’ NSR250 and more.
The pieces are part of Repsol’s celebration of 50 years as one of the main sponsors and power players in world championship motorsport. In the case of Grand Prix their involvement began with the old ‘R’ logo on the side of Angel Nieto’s 50cc Derbi – also having pride of place in Passeig de Gracia – one of three bikes aired on the Casa Fuster rooftop as Repsol uncloak the dispersed exhibition in the run-up to the Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya and ahead of more commemorations – this time for MotoGP’s 70th year – at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya this weekend.
“Repsol would not be what it is today without motorsports,” said Head of Sponsorship Bárbara Bertrán of the Madrid-based firm that cleared a 1.9 billion operating income in 2016 (according to their Wikipedia page) and who recently toasted a quarter of a century as title sponsors of HRC’s official MotoGP effort.
“Passeig de Gracia has a special mix of commerce and culture which brings a lot of visitors; it is one of the most visited streets in the city and where luxury brands sit next to conventional stores and restaurants and bars,” explained Luis Sans, President of the Passeig de Gracia Association, providing some insight as to why Repsol have filtered out their prize-possessions. Thanks to a press release, motorsport fans were given a literal ‘map’ of where to hunt down the collection of more than 20 vehicles.
‘Participating are fashion stores Benetton, Santa Eulàlia, Muji, North Face and Replay, perfumery Regia jewellers Rabat and Unode50, and the Eichholtz furniture store, as well as Nubar restaurant and hotels Majestic, Casa Fuster, Alexandra, Royal, Gallery, Alma and The One.’
Anyone sharing a photo on Twitter or Instagram of any of the bikes or cars with the hashtag #Repsol50Aniversario go into a draw for two free tickets to attend the seventh round of MotoGP this weekend as few kilometres up the road for what will be the 28th Catalan Grand Prix.
