Gresini Racing is having a dream year in 2024. In a surprising move, the eight-time world champion has departed from the Repsol Honda team to join the small-scale satellite Ducati team. Gresini is no stranger to hosting world-class riders, with previous names in the Gresini garage, including the late Marco Simoncelli, Jorge Martin, Aleix Espargaro, and Enea Bastianini. However, this year seems special, with both Marc and Alex Marquez teamed up in the light blue livery on the year-old Ducati machine.

The results this year have spoken for themselves. Although without a Sunday race win yet, Gresini is now sitting in the top 3 of the championship and XX in the manufacturers’ championship. Personally, I love watching the passion in the Gresini garage and the social media clips of them all celebrating.

This season, with the influence of Marquez joining the team, I have often thought about how I could support the Gresini team as a fan. I would love to be able to play more of a part in supporting a team in MotoGP; however, traditional sponsorship routes are incredibly expensive and not worth it for an individual (unless I won the lottery, then I would undoubtedly become the main sponsor of a team).

This week, Gresini Racing has released the ‘world’s first fan-powered motorsport sponsorship program,’ which allows you to be an official sponsor of the Gresini Racing team for as little as $125! They have a number of different tiers available, four to be exact:

There may be a difference in opinion as to whether it is worth it or not, and from an ROI point of view, it probably isn’t. However, from an emotional standpoint for an avid MotoGP fan, I think it is fantastic. I will be doing the Podium 3 package. The package comes with quite a few perks and opportunities, lots of chances to win prizes such as VIP tickets, meet and greets, and tours, as well as a personalised Gresini team t-shirt and avatars. Also included is an official certificate of sponsorship ‘minted on the blockchain,’ which I assume is just a way of owning the digital rights (I would personally rather have a printed version).

I know that a similar scheme to this already exists for other sports, such as football. I always remember my Grandad having shares in Manchester United, not as a financial investment but to show his love and support for the club and to feel like he is part of the club, no matter how small it was. I do hope that this kind of scheme is adopted across the paddock. It would be nice to have the ability to become an official sponsor for any of the teams you support for such an accessible price.