English
Italiano
In November 2023, Malaysian Razlan Razali had to hand over his CryptoData Aprilia RNF racing team to Trackhouse Racing boss Justin Marks because his shady Romanian business partner had apparently not met his financial obligations, resulting in a cash flow bottleneck.
Since then, the former Petronas Yamaha team boss and former Sepang Circuit CEO has been planning his future career, making some contacts, and exploring ideas. Now Razali has announced that he will become part of the global "Anytime Fitness Community."
"We are proud to soon be operating an AF franchise in Kuala Lumpur," Razali stated. "Your fitness journey starts the moment you sign up. We are here to support you every step of the way. Your journey to a healthier life starts NOW at Anytime Fitness Neocyber."
"When I returned to Malaysia at the end of 2023 after my MotoGP drama with my shareholders at RNF Racing, I was trying to figure out what to do next after my years in motorsport. When you've been competing at such a high level, you have to strive to at least return to the same level or higher," Razali explained in an exclusive interview with GPOne.com. "But that proved to be difficult. I received offers for Moto3 or Moto2, but that wasn't appealing to me because I'd been doing that for years; that chapter was closed."
"Therefor I considered how and whether I could bring MotoGP to new territories, for example, back to Istanbul, Turkey, where GP races took place at Istanbul Park in 2006 and 2007. But that turned out to be difficult; it would have required a long start-up period. And during the transition period, during which Liberty Media is presumably set to take over Dorna, this plan could not be implemented."
"So I spent a year evaluating several ideas and projects and met with Carmelo Ezpeleta several times. Finally, I looked for and found something that suited my life and that of my family and had nothing to do with motorsport. I came across this franchise with the US provider 'Anytime Fitness'; this company is number 1 worldwide. They operate a total of 5,500 fitness clubs, a fantastic brand, everything at a high level. When I signed in Malaysia last September, there were only 50 AF clubs in the country. When we open in May or June, our studio will already be the 75th or 80th in Malaysia."
Despite his demanding work, Razlan Razali (52) always found enough time to improve on his personal fitness. He participated in triathlon events, even in New Zealand, and repeatedly presented himself as an avid road cyclist with a keen sense for the best equipment. His precious racing bikes could also be seen in a corner of the Petronas hospitality area.
"Running a fitness studio fits my lifestyle, and we are a very active family," added Razali. "My daughters and sons, we go to the gym almost every day; hardly a day goes by without a workout, which keeps us healthy and fit. Anytime Fitness is a community in itself. I'm still in a business that can help change people's lives. So far, I've helped young riders fulfill their dream of a motorsport career. Now it's about supporting people in their quest for a better life and better health."
Before Razlan Razali handed over his two MotoGP slots to Trackhouse Racing at the end of 2023, the successful motorsport manager experienced a rollercoaster of emotions for years.
The Malaysian has made a significant contribution to motorcycle and automobile racing over the past 16 years, making a name for himself, even though the last two years as a MotoGP racing team owner (WithU-RNF-Yamaha in 2022) and a 40 percent co-owner of CryptoDATA-RNF (2023) have been largely bumpy.
The WithU-Yamaha team competed with Andrea Dovizioso and rookie Darryn Binder in 2022, while the CryptoDATA-Aprilia-RNF team fielded Miguel Oliveira and Raúl Fernández in 2023. They achieved four top-six results, despite the fact that five-time MotoGP winner Oliveira was sidelined three times due to injury.
After the 2023 season Razlan Razali, 52, declined to comment publicly on the details of the falling-out with the Romanian CryptoDATA major shareholders (who owned 60 percent of the racing company RNF Racing Limited), as he was operating in a minefield. RNF's fortunes were in deep trouble, as the two MotoGP slots had already been lost on the Monday after the 2023 Valencia GP. Aprilia Racing terminated the contract for the 2024 customer team that same evening. RNF thus lost its business foundation: the operation of one of its eleven MotoGP teams.
The new Trackhouse Racing team, owned by US millionaire and NASCAR team owner Justin Marks, was ready to launch and took over the remnants of the RNF team, including most of the technical staff, until 2026. Davide Brivio was announced as the new team manager in 2024. In 2025, Raúl Fernández and Moto2 World Champion Ai Ogura will compete for the US team.
In November 2023, CryptoDATA boss Ovidiu Toma and Razlan Razali reunited the sad remnants of the now-worthless RNF racing team, which lost its slots, along with the two riders Miguel Oliveira and Raúl Fernández, who were always directly contracted to Aprilia Racing. After that fall-out RNF owned nothing except a bad reputation. The trucks, trailers, and hospitality facilities were leased. Although the team operated with a budget of €11.6 million in 2023, it did not even own the chairs, tables, crockery and cutlery in the hospitality area.
Razlan Razali was Managing Director of the Malaysian state-owned Sepang International Circuit from October 8, 2008, to April 8, 2020. "My work began in 2008, two weeks before the Malaysian Grand Prix," he recalls. In this position, Razali acted as a promoter for successful events for MotoGP, Formula 1, Superbike, and the Motorcycle Endurance World Championship.
Shortly after taking over as CEO of the Sepang Circuit, Razali launched a comprehensive and exemplary national youth program for Malaysian motorcycle talent in the spring of 2009, as he needed strong local heroes for the Sepang Grand Prix. The first goal: to have a local wildcard rider compete in the Moto3 GP class in Sepang in 2009.
Zulfahmi Khairuddin was the chosen rider and contested the full 125cc World Championship for the first time in 2010 and, two years later, he missed victory in the 2012 Moto3 World Championship race in Sepang for the Red Bull KTM-Ajo team by just 0.028 seconds against world champion Sandro Cortese, his teammate.
In 2017, Malaysian Hafizh Syahrin stormed from 24th place on the grid to second place in the Moto2 rain-soaked race at Sepang – and later became the first Malaysian to enter MotoGP. This is why the Malaysian MotoGP event has been completely sold out since 2015. In 2012 and 2017, Sepang was awarded the title of "Best Grand Prix of the Year" by the teams.
At the same time, Razali acted as team principal of the Petronas Sepang Circuit Racing Team, which was owned by the Sepang Circuit and initially competed only in the Moto3 and Moto2 classes, but in June 2018 acquired Jorge Martinez's two MotoGP slots for the upcoming season.
The Yamaha customer team with Morbidelli and Quartararo
The new MotoGP squad caused a sensation in MotoGP in 2019 when it was chosen by Yamaha as the exclusive Yamaha customer team instead of Tech3. It fielded a promising rider duo of Fabio Quartararo and Franky Morbidelli, who each celebrated three GP victories in 2020. Morbidelli finished the season as the best Yamaha rider in second place in the riders' world championship.
In 2021, "El Diablo" was promoted to the Yamaha factory team – he won the world championship outright and finished as runner-up in 2022.
But in August 2021, Razali's fortunes spiraled downwards at the Austrian GP when the Petronas marketing director declined to renew her three-year contract with the team due to old disagreements. Razali had long since given up his lucrative job as Sepang Circuit CEO in favor of the team's principal and then decided at short notice to take over the Yamaha customer team for 2022 on his own and continue to run it as team owner.
Razali suffered his first financial setback when his long-time team manager, Johann Stigefelt, and his Swedish company, claimed to be the owner of the Petronas SIC team's tractors, trailers, and hospitality.
Razali insisted that Stigefelt's company in Europe had only been used as a transitory item for Petronas' sponsorship money, and that all assets belonged to the SIC racing team. But this could not be proven; the new WithU Yamaha team had to make most of its purchases from scratch. But the Italian energy company WithU stepped down as a main sponsor after just one year. CryptoDATA took over.
After the abrupt dissolution of the RNF team in november 2023, Razlan Razali decided to start a new chapter in his career. "I now have a new position as an Independent Motorsports Consultant. My focus will be on talent development and sponsorships for two-wheeled racing", was the first new step for Razali, whose uncle Dr. M. served as Prime Minister of Malaysia twice, taking office for the second time at the age of 94.
But since then, the Malaysian has turned his attention to another challenge as an Active Fitness franchisee.
"It's been an amazing time," summarized the versatile motorsports manager Razali in his interview with GPOne.com. "The opportunity to own and manage a MotoGP team comes once in a lifetime. We've known what winning feels like since then and have also accepted defeats. I've worked with the best team members from around the world. We discovered a future world champion in Fabio and a near-world champion in Franky. Then, in 2021, we had the greatest of all time on the team, Valentino Rossi. Then came a legend like Dovi, a newcomer like Darryn Binder, and finally, Miguel, the fastest dentist in the world, and a potential future champion like Raúl Fernández. The team was my extended family, my second home, and we should be proud of everything we've achieved and everything we've become."
"What lies ahead now," Razali stated, "will be another new beginning, but a different one, and I will approach the next developments with the greatest excitement and encouragement."
As Winston Churchill once said: "There's no shame in falling down, but there's shame in staying down."
