A day after the conclusion of the 2024 MotoGP season in Barcelona, the series’ promoter has announced a new collaboration with Harley-Davidson.
How their partnership would exactly look like, and whether it could mean the King of the Baggers series will appear on the support programme at select MotoGP races, remains completely open at this point.
"Harley-Davidson is a historic name," said Dorna boss Carmelo Ezpeleta about one of the most famous motorcycle brands in the world. "That's why we are very proud to now start a collaboration with Harley.
"We are still discussing the details and do not yet know exactly what the collaboration will look like. Harley-Davidson is of course very important in the US market. It is also an important market for us. Today is an important day for us."
Harley-Davidson does have a history in motorcycle racing. "We had our first racing department in 1914," said Jochen Zeitz, who took over the position of CEO in 2020 and has brought the brand back into motorsport.
In 2020, the first King Of The Baggers race took place at former MotoGP venue Laguna Seca. Harley-Davidson is an important feature of the championship and continues to race there with a modified version of the Road Glide, while rival brand Indian Motorcycle is also represented in the championship with its Challenger model.
The King of the Baggers is a part of MotoAmerica and has become popular with the fans over the years.
"We wanted to create something unique and start racing with our touring motorcycles," said Zeitz.
"That's why we want to explore possibilities together with Dorna. We are both big brands. I'm very happy about it and I'm sure there will be a lot of speculation, which is never a bad thing.
"When two global brands work together, it's a natural step. We won't talk about exactly what that will look like today. It's clear, of course, that a motorcycle belongs on the racetrack at some point. We'll try to make that happen."
Harley-Davidson previously competed in the motorcycle world championship in the 1970s. Italian rider Walter Villa won the 250cc world championship in 1974, ‘75 and ‘76 with the RR-250, an air-cooled two-stroke motorcycle. In 1976 he also won the 350cc class title.
"Racing has always been in my DNA, from sports shoes to motorcycles," said Zeitz, referring to his time as Chairman of the Board of Directors at Puma. Puma’s collaboration with Ferrari started in 2005 with Zeitz at the helm of the company.
Both Harley-Davidson and Dorna want to benefit from the collaboration that is now beginning to take shape. For Harley, it is important to increase its appeal to racing fans.
"There are also many racing enthusiasts in the Harley community that we haven't really been able to tap into yet," said Zeitz.
"So this is an opportunity to explore new avenues together. We have shown the bikes in Thailand, Japan and now in Barcelona. But you can only see them racing in the USA. Wherever we go, there is great interest in these bikes."
Meanwhile, Dorna has its sights set on the US market in particular, as sporting director Carlos Ezpeleta explained: "It's now the starting point. They have an incredible community that we can benefit from. Harley can also help us in the United States and MotoGP can help them globally. We have a big footprint in Europe, but we are also in Asia and Japan. These are interesting markets for them. We are very happy that Harley wants to invest more in racing in the future."
The collaboration only involves Harley-Davidson, with Dorna stressing that it is not talking to Indian Motorcycle, the other brand in the King Of The Baggers.
At the US Grand Prix in Austin, the King Of The Baggers was part of the support programme for MotoGP, but the races were organised by MotoAmerica.
