Carmelo Ezpeleta takes stock of the situation on a subject that could not be more sensitive and moving: the calendar. Because organizing a World Championship, which means traveling the planet while it lives under the yoke of a pandemic which requires borders to be closed, is a challenge. But the promoter Dorna adapted in record time in 2020 with a revamped, concentrated program and a health bubble which showed its effectiveness. The ecosystem has also been brought into tune and here we are in 2021, ready to face...
Carmelo Ezpeleta held firm in the storm and he is preparing to face the pandemic again to make the Grand Prix season. On AS, he looks at the path traveled between the world before and the one after… “ We now know how serious the pandemic is, and we already have the experience of playing a championship with the health bubble. We are much better prepared, without a doubt ».
And the health crisis leaves no respite. Thus, the return of MotoGP which should have taken place at Sepang had to be canceled. And plan B initiated immediately, with a rearticulation of the system towards the Qatar, and its Losail route transformed into a collection base. A strategy which bears all the more fruit as the right decisions regarding the regulation were taken at the right time: “ it's not a big loss » said elsewhere Ezpeleta about Sepang.
Carmelo Ezpeleta: we have to adapt and we will adapt”
« We have to adapt and the important thing is that we have a preseason. The factories have been spoken to and it is helpful that the engines and aerodynamic freeze have been agreed, so the changes are less significant than in other years. It's not an ideal situation, but we are not dramatically affected by having to start in March instead of February ».
Le Qatar will host two Grands Prix. The season will be launched. And we will have to adapt with the Portugal subsequently, which already means that the initial schedule must be forgotten…” We had already planned that. If you couldn't go to America, that possibility was considered. We had to wait until the deadline set in the contracts to decide that we could not go to Argentina and the United States. Now they are postponed and waiting for what happens this year. The objective this year is to have a championship of at least 18 races. If you can get to 20, great, but at least 18 and between the months of March and November. The ideal is this and, if this is not possible, we will adapt ". A conviction which indeed assures us of a season.
