In just two days time, the Italian charity Di.Di will present the Paralympic riders who will be participating in the ‘International Bridgestone Handy Race’ during the Le Mans GP weekend in May.
The rider unveiling will take place on Saturday at the annual Motodays event in Rome, where for a number of years Di.Di have helped young children with disabilities get up close and personal with everything 2-wheels.
The eleven Italian Paralympic athletes will join a further 20 riders from France, England, Belgium, Finland, Spain, Colombia, Australia and New Zealand at the Le Mans circuit.
Starting out with a small group of passionate disabled motorcycle riders who didn’t want to give up on the idea of pulling on their leathers once again to head out on track, the series has grown over the past five years and will for the first time run as an official support race to a MotoGP event.
The President of the Di.Di charity, Emiliano Malagoli, knows exactly how they feel, having lost a leg in a car accident in 2011. A determined Emiliano returned to the track in record time and ever since has wanted to share his passion for motorcycles with other disabled people who for various reasons may feel that riding bikes is an opportunity that is simply not open to them.
A number of companies have since got behind the project, including Honda and Bridgestone, the latter of whom takes on the role of title sponsor to May’s race at Le Mans.
Bridgestone will also supply products from their high performance race tyre range to the teams and riders.
It promises to be a fantastic event – and hopefully we’ll find a way to watch it in May.
You can find out more about Bridgestone’s race range here.
