5 Questions with Matteo Guerinoni

Matteo Guerinoni was born in Italy but it is his love for motorsports that soon brought him to Jakarta, Indonesia. This passion was ignited back when Guerinoni was 10-years-old racing first with go-karts and loving the excitement it gave him. “I was pushing my dad very hard to take me to as many races as possible around Italy, even though he was not financially strong enough to support me,” he reminisces. “His immense support was what really made me want to push myself and always do better.” 

He later shifted his focus on motorcycles and since then, he’s gone on to win his first Indonesian National Championship in 2006. Other accolades he’s bagged include clinching the gold in the Supersport and Superbike National Indonesian Championship titles. It was in 2013, at 43, that he decided to retired from the sport. But retirement doesn’t mean he’s giving up the sport. Guerinoni is channelling his passion through other means, this time through a new MotoGP Live programme that starts at the end of this month, co-hosting alongside FOX Sports Asia presenter Edward Russell.

That’s not all that he has passion for. Guerinoni also has a deep love for food, which drove him to own two restaurants in Jakarta and Bali, as well as landing the role of a judge on MasterChef Indonesia. 

We chat to the racer to find out more about motorsports, his new show and his other passion. 

Why motorcycles?

Motorcycles just give me that boost to live my life fulfillingly and more than anything else — besides God, of course. I have always loved motorcycles by my dad was scared initially to let me race bikes, so he pushed me in the direction of four wheels. I had to wait quite some time before achieving my dream to race motorcycles. 

What’s your favourite motorcycle to ride?

Ducati! I won a national championship on that bike. Also because it is not an easy beast to play with and I love challenges. Not to forget that it’s Italian, of course. 

Tell us more about the MotoGP programme. 

MotoGP Live is going to be thrilling because it is one of the most followed sports worldwide. Edward and I are going to make it an awesome experience by giving a lot of interesting inside information about this amazing and challenging sport. Given this is the first time FOX Sports is having a studio show in English around the MotoGP, it definitely will be exciting. I hope to make the viewers happy and that more people will fall in love with the sport and get a deeper understanding of what goes on under the helmet.

So you’re also a restaurateur. How did that come about?

It started concurrently with racing — I only have two hobbies in my life. The first is bikes and the second is food. It is not a strange combination actually because both of them need you to be sharp and focused. I decided to go into F&B because I knew that I could not race forever. I’ve been in F&B for 31 years and I have opened a total of 20 restaurants. 

You were also a judge on MasterChef Indonesia. What do you enjoy most about being on the show?

It was a very tough job due to the long hours of filming. The enjoyment I got from the show was to see all those young contestants fighting very hard to become masterchefs, despite difficulties and failures, and in the end succeeding.

MotoGP Live premiers on March 26, 2017 on FOX Sports (Singtel TV Channel 114, StarHub TV Channel 208) and will subsequently air every race day on the FOX Sports Network. Visit the website for more details and the latest timings.