Gordon Ritchie | December 1, 2016
Italy bound! Jacobsen will have his third manufacturer in two seasons in MV Agusta, and will fancy his chances at the 2017 title.
American Patrick ‘PJ’ Jacobsen, from Montgomery, NY, will compete in the 2017 FIM Supersport World Championship after all, on an MV Agusta Reparto Corse F3, having been a Kawasaki then Honda rider over the previous three seasons.
PJ has joined the official MV Agusta Reparto Corse effort, which fielded Jules Cluzel and Lorenzo Zanetti in 2016.
“I’m really looking forward to this new adventure with MV Agusta,” he said of his new role. “To be joining with the Italian manufacturer is a privilege. Already having a test on the bike in Jerez, I felt really comfortable after a few sessions. I’m really looking forward this year with MV and seeing what we can accomplish. I’m excited to get to some more tests on the bike and then ready to go to round one.”
Jacobsen tested the MV for one day at a slightly damp Jerez circuit in Spain on Tuesday, November 22. For PJ, it was a fruitful session.
“I wanted to see what I could do and what the bike could do,” said the 13-time WorldSSP podium rider. “I had never ridden an MV Agusta before the test at Jerez. I could feel the difference in the engine as it had a lot of torque. It is quite nice around the corners, like a 250 two-stroke.”
The Jerez tests was seen by some as a kind of shoot-out at that time, as young ESS rider Alessandro Zaccone alternated on the lone official MV with Jacobsen, with the official MV team seemingly evaluating both riders and their own machine.
“I was just there to get my feeling and see what the future holds for me,” said Jacobsen of that two-rider/one-bike test at the time.
That immediate future has now become a positive reality and Jacobsen will be an official MV rider in 2017.
PJ, now 23, has scored two race wins in WorldSSP and was runner-up in the 2015 championship while riding a Kawasaki at the start of the year, moving to a Honda halfway through.
The first WorldSSP round will take place at Phillip Island in Australia, over the weekend of 24-26 February.
