The Grand Prix paddock has emerged from the pressure exerted by a high-stakes MotoGP season, and it is as if, suddenly, it discovered the imperatives of the next 2023 deadline. That is to say not only a calendar of 21 events, but also two new distant Grands Prix, a concentrated period which will impose a geographical celibacy of two months, and also, sprint races, which will seriously increase the load without for the moment guaranteeing more bonuses… But no one can decently play the bad surprise. Everyone signed up for this to happen...
The grumbling from the paddock was barely perceptible until Stefan pierer, CEO of KTM, and Hubert Trunkenpolz, just as well placed in the Mattighofen organization chart, does not come out of the woods to announce on speedweek : " we want 18 races, a maximum of 20. We don't need three events in Spain and we don't need two in Italy either. Each country should only have one Grand Prix ". And the duo went so far as to question the expedition to Kazakhstan while, for India, he recognized that there was room for discussion.
Sure, but KTM was one of the signatories of the new five-year development contract that the developer Dorna had presented shortly before the collapse of the previous world. All MotoGP factories, like all the teams, then accepted the implementation of a 22-race season. The health crisis has been there, making the 2020 campaign a 14-match competition, but next world or not, this global event will only have been a moratorium. The shareholder who is a Canadian pension fund wants to see a return on investment, so Dorna has resumed moving forward, and even forced it, since time lost is also money.
MotoGP : “t’as signé, c’est pour…”
This gives us this physiognomy which does not please the protagonists. The sprint races taken out of the hat are the surprise of the boss who leaves the teams to fend for themselves with their drivers regarding the results bonuses which should result from them. Or not ! Cal Crutchlow raised the hare, and Charles Pernat shoot it with heavy fire. But above all there is this: the seven events in Asia, Australia and the Middle East between September 24 and November 19.
A series which will only offer two free weekends in two months. However, no one wants to be away from their family for two months. The season begins at the end of March in Portimao and three free weekends have been set for May, while races follow in quick succession in September, October and November. But you have to plan your calendar carefully, avoiding joint meetings with Formula 1 as much as possible…
SO ? Well, come what may. Because Dorna to a signed contract and even if clever clauses have been added at the bottom of the document, the paddock does not have the means to challenge it. Because it is largely economically dependent on a Carmelo Ezpeleta without which, let us admit, few would have survived the health crisis which immediately combined into a financial crisis. “You signed it for…”. We know the rest.
