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You could argue that the 2016 season was the most successful season so far for the MV Agusta Reparto Corse squad, even though they didn’t achieve a podium finish. Leon Camier was a constant challenger for the podium and a regular top six finisher. Compared to previous years, they proved themselves this season as serious contenders within the WorldSBK championship. And while fans and other teams were surprised at the progress made by the Italian marque this year, no one was more surprised and pleased than the MV Agusta Team Manager himself, Andrea Quadranti.

“Let’s say I’m quite surprised, I didn’t expect such good results,” said Quadranti. “I know it’s going to be hard to continue to be competitive because the other brands are also developing their engines and bikes, so it’s going to be hard to stay where we got this year. To achieve a top five is always a good result and it’s not an easy result to achieve. There are going to be some changes to the rules next year so let’s see what we can do, but overall I’m happy with what happened this year.”

Leon’s performances have impressed a lot of people in the paddock and many attributed the success of the team to the rider’s talent. But Quadranti is quick to point out that success is a team effort.

“Yeah I would say that many people said – from what I read in magazines – that it’s because of Leon’s performances that we improved our results,” explained Quadranti. “To be honest, Leon rode the bike last year so I think the bike has also improved a lot. I would say Leon was very professional as always and he’s got a lot of confidence with the bike, so he could also achieve the results he achieved. Of course I’m happy but really it’s a result of teamwork.”

While teamwork is certainly key, the MV Agusta squad experienced a lot of structural change in 2016. While their end of season results were evidence of progress, Quadranti is ambivalent on the impact the changes had.

“Well let’s just say we are more independent this year in terms of decisions and the development we could make,” said the Italian about changes to the team. “We were able to try things and we had nothing to lose, but unfortunately the races were every 15 days so it made it hard to try things. It was almost impossible, we had to test parts or solutions during the race weekend and sometimes like in Aragon, the result was a double zero but that’s part of the game.”

In WorldSSP, the MV Agusta Reparto Corse team had a steady season with Jules Cluzel finishing second overall. However the team manager isn’t completely content with their results and attributes the team’s challenges to rule changes within the category.

“Supersport for me was a bit of a disappointment in terms of expectations,” said Quadranti. “The changes to the rules have given us a lot of trouble with the electronics, as the street bike comes out with traction control but in racing we aren’t allowed to use it. So that changed everything for our software and we didn’t really find the right solutions. The bike isn’t really an easy bike to ride, so this winter we are looking to develop the bike and the electronics. The bike is competitive for sure, it’s a very sensitive bike. We just need to find the right package to be able to compete for first position.”