One outgoing MotoGP boss “a huge loss” to up-and-coming team
“I think he’s a huge loss for the team.”

Miguel Oliveira’s time at the Trackhouse Aprilia team ended at last weekend’s Solidarity Barcelona Gran🐼d Prix, but the Portuguese rider believes that one other departing team member will be a “huge loss” for the American-owned squad.
Oliveira spent one year under the Trackhouse banner, but eff✃ectively two with the team, as he stayed with it as it morphed last winter from RNF to its current g🅺uise, changing almost no personnel.
Wilco Zeelenberg joined the team back in 2019, when it was under the Petronas♒ Yamaha SRT name, and stayed with it until the conclusion of this season.
The former World Championship racer, winner of the 1990 250cc German Grand Prix, had remained in his role as team manager at Trackhouse🎃 this year despite the arrival of Davide Brivio as team principal over the winter.
However, a restructuring of the team’s management will leave Zeelenberg out in 20🥂25.
“Wilco [Zeelenberg] has been a great asset to the team, a great guy to work with,” sai🌸d Oliveira.
“He’s be𓄧en on the rider’s side most of the time, he has many times made the bridge between what we💖 feel and what is really technical.
“Wilco has a lot of experience, and dealing with us he really understands our 🌺perspective. It’s always a nice guy to have on the team.
“It’s a shame that he’s leaving. I♈f you check MotoGP teams nowadays, they always have this type of guy inside the garage, a guy maybe that was a rider, he’s retired, but really u🏅nderstands what we need.
“I think he’s a huge loss for the team.”
Raul Fernandez, who will stick with Trackhouse in 2025, said that he will feel the absence of Zeelenberg, but also of several other team members that a﷽re leaving Trackhouse this winter.
“It’s a strange feeling because, it’s not just🦋 for Wilco [Zeelenberg], we have also three more people on the team that will leave this weekend,” Fernandez said.
“It’s true that all of th🐷em helped me when I arrived to the team — the last years I had a really bad situation with myself, so they helpedꩲ me a lot.
“I will feel strange when I arrive to the 🧸box and I don’t see Wilco or somebody else.”

Alex joined the team in ꦐAugust of 2024 having covered consumer and racing motorcycle news at Visordown for two years.