Malaysia’s Sepang Circuit hosted Round 6 of the 2016 World Superbike Championship and provided more points for Gulf’s motorbike racing partners, team Milwaukee BMW – but, even more importantly, the race further realised the potential of Gulf’s partnership in top level motorbike racing across an entire regional market.
The manufacturer-backed BMW squad, netted another good haul of points – with Josh Brookes finishing 11th and 12th, having challenged for a top ten place in both races, while Karel Abraham finished 12th in race one but didn’t complete the second race of the weekend.
The Championship has now reached the half way mark and it is already proving to be a big hit with Gulf businesses around the world. For the Malaysian race, Gulf VIP visitors flew in from India and the Philippines adding to some local Malaysian Gulf Oil Marine guests. The opportunity of combining superb hospitality, great access to the riders and the team, together with extremely exciting racing has captured the imagination of many Gulf entities as it offers a number of different ways of promoting the brand and boosting product sales.
“We have already hosted Gulf guests from more than a dozen countries at the World Superbike Championship rounds so far – and the demand for future races is looking similarly impressive,” explains Gulf Oil International Vice President of Branding and Marketing, Vicki Kipling. ”It is a great illustration of how a sporting partnership, used in the correct way, offers a chance to really boost sales – not just in the obvious motorbike product range, but across the board. We still have opportunities for Gulf businesses to participate over the second half of the season and to benefit from what is on offer, but I would urge people to commit quickly, as the demand is so strong.”
The World Superbike Championship now heads to the UK’s Donington Park, over the weekend of the 28-29th May, where a full quota of Gulf guests will be on-site to cheer on Team Milwaukee BMW at its home race.
The other remaining SBK rounds are as follows: United States 08th – 10th July; Germany 16th – 18th September, France 30th September – 2nd October; Spain 14th – 16th October; Quatar 28th – 30th October.