It often happens thatwhen a racing series changes tire suppliers, the on-site team changes along with the newcomer.
However,there are exceptions– after all,if the crew performs impeccably for four years without a hitch, it proves that the external company supporting the supplier is top-notch; and as the saying goes,“you don’t change a winning team.”
This is the case with theItalian operation led by Fabrizio Bardi, who boastsa long family history in the tire and motorsport fields.
We first met Fabrizio Bardi – along with his crew members Thomas and Alessio Conti, Riccardo Barbirato, and Attila Nagy – when Hankook entered Formula E with the Gen3 car four years ago, working through the companyBert Srl based in San Giuliano Terme (Pisa).
An interesting aspect of this story is that,with the expiration of the Formula E contract with Hankook and the arrival of Bridgestone for the Gen4 era,the very same people will be handling tire mounting and dismounting, organizing global logistics, and managing all tire-related operations – this time under a new Milan-based company calledAki Tech Srl,but still with Fabrizio Bardi at the helm.
The Bardi family history in the tire industry
We started with a family business founded in 1969 in Livorno; initially, we ran a retail tire shop, but we soon began supporting regional competitions and various rally teams –told Fabrizio Bardi.
The turning point came at the 1970 Rally dell’Isola d’Elba, where we began providing on-site support; this eventually led to Kleber asking us in 1974 to handle service operations for the factory Opel team. That was when we started working directly for racing teams– he concludes.
The rest is more recent history, involvingthe family-run businesses that subsequently worked in Formula 3 and Formula 1 – partnering with Michelinfor several years starting in 2006 – followed by aten-year stint with Hankook in the DTM (2011–2020)and theFIA Formula 3 European Championship(from 2018), leading up to the present day inFormula E.
At the same time, these various companies have also been active in theItalian TCR series.
Now,the team operating out of the Bridgestone garage is expanding furtherfor the upcoming season with theaddition of Texense – a specialist in sensors– which will naturally work inclose synergy with Aki Tech.Texense was already involved during the Hankook era alongside Arjun Naidu and Stanimir Yoskov(who also appear in the photo accompanying this article).
In short,while the era of one tire brand is ending and a new one is beginning, the Italian company working behind the scenes remains the same—after all, “you don’t change a winning team.”
#MarceloPadin #theEMNteam
Be the first to comment