"[At the end of 2008] I will be saying that after a successful season we are now ready to go for the world championship in 2009. I am convinced we can do this. Completely convinced," Bartholemy told the Kawasaki
MotoGP website, when asked to predict the future.
"We have some very, very good people with us at Kawasaki and I think we have the best team in MotoGP. We have gone through many ups and downs but together we have created an incredible motorcycle and built a factory team: I feel extremely proud of all of them."
Following Kawasaki's split from Harald Eckl at the end of 2006, Bartholemy led a major restructuring of the factory team - and faced a serious challenge to assemble the new 'in-house' outfit in time for the start of the 2007 world championship
Despite the upheaval, and a mid-season rider swap, Kawasaki and its new 800cc ZX-RR exceeded expectations, allowing Bartholemy to achieve his goal of tempting
John Hopkins from Suzuki for 2008. In turn, Hopkins convinced Bartholemy's colleagues with four
MotoGP podiums and fourth in the final world championship standings.
"I actually took the decision to go with Hopper last April and at that stage it wasn't so easy to convince people around me we could make that step: his results hadn't been the best," said Bartholemy. "But, at the end of the [final] race in Valencia, I went to the trailer and looked at the final points tables. First, Casey Stoner, who stayed with Ducati; then Pedrosa, who stayed with Honda; then Rossi, who's contracted to Yamaha. In other words, the first rider on that table, the top scoring rider who was able to change teams, was Hopkins, who we'd chosen in April, and he wanted to come to Kawasaki. That says something."
"And it's not as if he's the only one who was interested," he continued. "I think perhaps it was the first time some racers thought of Kawasaki as a real option for them. For sure, the 2007 season has changed our lives. And has changed us in the eyes of other people in
MotoGP because they now perceive us as a proper factory team."
After a year of 'construction', Bartholemy believes that the new Kawasaki Racing Team is now close to being 100 per cent complete.
"I can say that we are missing, say, 15 per cent of the 100 per cent that was missing on 6th November 2006 [when Bartholemy was told to form the team]," he said. "January is really the target for me, for it all to be absolutely spot on, but even if it takes until the first IRTA test in February, I will be happy."
As previously reported, Kawasaki has opted to develop its 2007 machine, rather than roll-out a brand new model for 2008, a tactic Bartholemy is sure will pay dividends.
