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The photographer: Mirco Lazzari

One of the most respected pros in the world of sports photography, Mirco Lazzari has been following motorsports professionally since 1986; over three decades on the job during which he has covered a wide number of two and four-wheel championships. His birthplace of Imola marked the start of his career. “I began working at some motorbike races, mostly at Imola because I was born there and still live there. I covered races at my city and nearby circuits, Mugello and Misano. After that I followed Formula 1 and every other automobile championship”. Lazzari began to work regularly in MotoGP™ in 2002, and parallelly – although not quite as often – the World Superbike championship, another of his passions.

The photo: Sundown at Qatar over the World Champion

“One picture that I love is this one of Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) last year at Qatar, during the last Round of the season. It was taken at the end of a free practice session. The sun was falling fast and I saw that, unlike with MotoGP™, for the SBK® races it goes down along the centre of the track, behind the hairpin. I was at that spot, waiting for a rider to come by, and then Johnny arrived – I thought it was perfect: the world champion with the sun behind, I thought it was a perfect scene. I couldn’t have planned it, it all just came together and that’s what made this photograph something special. I’m not saying it’s impossible to replicate, but it would be very hard”.