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It is with great regret that we learned that the three-time F1 champion Niki Lauda passed away yesterday, 20 May, at the age of 70. The man who became a legend returned to be a man.
After winning countless battles, on and off the racetrack, the Champion's heart stopped beating. NOVOMATIC Italia greets a great partner and friend who, covering the role of Brand Ambassador of the NOVOMATIC Group from 2014 up to now, has accompanied the most important steps in our history, embodying perfectly the Group catchphrase: Winning Technology.
Niki Lauda's whole life can be considered a model to follow, a success story achieved both as a driver and as an entrepreneur, a story written to achieve and overcome the goals set with no margin for error; nothing less could be expected from a man called "Computer". A story made of falls and new beginnins, as well as the stories of many people, but marked by an aura of legendary creature, when Lauda was reborn from the flames, many will have thought to have seen the Arab Phoenix of ancient myths. And in 1976, only 42 days after the accident on the Nürburgring circuit, with his face marked by flames, Niki Lauda returned to racing, At that point the man died and the legend was born.
To leave today is therefore the man who became a legend, but above all, as either man or legend, a great friend of NOVOMATIC has left us. The cooperation between Lauda and NOVOMATIC, a decades-long friendship between the pilot, who became a national hero in Austria, and the Austrian entrepreneur Prof. Johann F. Graf, the founder of the NOVOMATIC Group, was born from a story of friendship: two success stories that have been connected for a long time, to culminate with his appointment as Ambassador in 2014.
Niki Lauda will be missed by all of us in a special way, but at the same time we will bring into our hearts and minds the teachings received from the Champion. The story will continue to live in the legend, and in the fond memory of the must-have red cap.
"With a heavy heart, we greet our esteemed partner and friend, Niki Lauda. Our condolences go to his family, it was a great honour and pleasure to have worked with him," said Harald Neumann, CEO of NOVOMATIC AG.
The Board of Directors of NOVOMATIC Italia, on behalf of all the employees, also gathers around Niki Lauda's family members in with a sincere gesture.
