Final Club46 winners celebrate with Valentino Rossi at Misano

This weekend four lucky Italian race fans became the final Club46 competition winners to visit a MotoGP round and meet racing legend Valentino Rossi. Not only did they get to meet the nine-time world champion but they could also celebrate in style when Rossi took a stunning victory at the San Marino and Rimini Grand Prix.

This was the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP rider’s first Grand Prix win since Assen 2013 and it was made all the more special as it is Rossi’s home race, the Misano circuit being just a few kilometres from his home town of Tavullia.

For the 2014 MotoGP season, Bridgestone Europe launched a unique competition, Club46, in collaboration with Valentino Rossi. For each competition 46 people won amazing prizes such as VR46 branded clothing, signed merchandise and more, but the top prize was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to visit a MotoGP race complete with paddock passes and a behind-the-scenes meet and greet with Valentino Rossi, widely regarded as the greatest rider of all time!

Bridgestone Europe welcomed guests at seven races in total with Misano being the final Club46 prize and it was the perfect way to end with Valentino winning the race. The lucky winners were Sara Mirabile and her guest Federica and Fabrizio Gaspari and his girlfriend Chiara, all from Italy.
An emotional Sara was shaking when she met Valentino. She said: “I couldn’t believe it when I found out I’d won the competition. I was very excited and happy! I was overwhelmed when I met Valentino, I can barely remember it; I was so excited, it’s a bit of a blur. I have been a fan of his since I was very young, watching the races with my dad every week when Valentino was also a child! It was the best day of my life! Thank you to Bridgestone for organizing everything, it was such a great experience and I’m very, very happy!”

Fabrizio, an engineer from Belluno in Italy said: “The whole experience has been fantastic. Bridgestone have given us the only opportunity in our life to meet Valentino! The visit to the garage was very interesting for me because I am an engineer so I asked a lot of questions! Thank you very much to Bridgestone for everything.”

You can see Sara, Fabrizio and all the previous winners on the Club46 Wall of Fame, as well as watch the beautiful Bridgestone and Rossi video on the Club46 website: www.beeneverywhere.eu/bridgestoneclub46