Carmelo Ezpeleta and his team united within the Dorna brand have made the speed motorcycle sport category what it is today. Everyone can have their opinion on what this represents, however we cannot deny that, under this impetus, the world championship has earned its place in the concert of world sporting events. This does not happen alone, requires political sense, sacrifices, traditions to forget in order to professionalize, and, above all, it is necessary to attract investors interested in their dividends to continue to exist. Such is the world, and not just MotoGP. Look at F1... Relations with the queen of motorsport are developing and common inspirations are becoming more and more relevant. There is even talk of a joint Grand Prix tomorrow... The 76-year-old Spaniard takes stock. An advanced age which he enjoys to better counter his detractors…
Public chat speedweek and as part of the French Grand Prix Carmelo Ezpeleta made this quick inventory of his paddock: “ I think MotoGP works very well. We have a great world championship in terms of competition, with very close races where private teams also win. But it must be better explained in the world ". And perhaps even internally to its reigning World Champion, but this remark is absolutely out of context.
And to ensure this teaching, a commercial director from the… NBA was recruited. Carmelo Ezpeleta explains this choice of the American Dan Rossomondo : “ the important thing is that Dan understands the business well and gives us his feedback in a short time. Once we have that answer, we'll see what we can do to take the steps he deems necessary. Of course we will have to invest in explaining what MotoGP is ».
Carmelo Ezpeleta: “ I copy everything I can copy from F1 and they copy certain things from us »
To stick to F1? The boss of Dorna would like to realign the sights on this point: “When it was said four years ago that Formula 1 should copy MotoGP, I replied that we were the second sport in motor sports and the first in motorcycles. Now I say the same thing: a comparison is not possible. That said, I copy everything I can copy and they copy some things from us ". So there is a synergy.
Carmelo Ezpeleta ends by recalling everything that happened during his era… “ From my point of view, there was three major changes during this period : the transition from 500cc to MotoGP four-stroke in 2002, then the single ECU in 2016 with the cost reduction measures agreed with the teams then the format introduced this season. And personally, I think the first two were more important for the championship than the most recent change ". Then he finishes, mischievously: “ and it's funny that at my age I'm the most open to change ».
