MotoGP Interview Hervé Poncharal (2/3): The contribution of Liberty Media......

Before resuming MotoGP at Silverstone, we were able to collect the results ofHervé Poncharal, the man with two hats who chairs IRTA and leads the Tech3 team.

This allows him, in addition to his four decades of experience in the paddock, to have a global vision of the past, the present and where we are heading with the planned arrival of Liberty Media. Let’s enjoy it…

Access part one here…

You mentioned Liberty Media: do we already have an idea of what Liberty Media's contribution to MotoGP could be?
Hervé Poncharal : “They can help us because there are people who say “There are 4 races in Spain, 5 in the Iberian Peninsula: it’s too many!”. We know why they are there, because these are races which, financially, are in balance, which are on circuits which hold up in terms of safety, paddock, et cetera, and which generate interest. And these are great Grands Prix. But if they manage to help us go to other countries so that perhaps we can reduce the Iberian Peninsula, we are open, if they manage to find new partners, since we had tobacco in the past and now it's mainly energy drinks and oil tankers, so if they can possibly work on the address book they have, with the different products that are theirs and in particular F1 which is still a close cousin, and that it can help us grow MotoGP, we’re interested. And when I say grow, it doesn't mean losing and selling your soul.

In any case, MotoGP has evolved compared to the Grands Prix of the 60s-70s-80s-90s. We went from 2-stroke to 4-stroke, we have circuits now which are approved instead of circuits which could no longer be approved to this day, we have TV coverage which did not exist before, we have many things which evolve. And as I often say, MotoGP, like all things, is evolving. Look at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games that we just saw in Paris, which was sublime: look at the ceremonies that there were 30 years ago and now look at how all the sports are covered: mountain biking, kayaking , swimming is filmed differently, it's in enclosures where there is the public which reacts, there are TVs everywhere, there are more media. So we cannot disconnect a sport which is in competition with all other sports, and also we cannot disconnect it from the global context in which it evolves. So then we can talk about “where is humanity going? It was better before". That's another debate, I don't want to get into that, but simply MotoGP is connected to humanity, in the world. It's 2024 and we have to be competitive in 2024. We have a lot of other sports that would like to overshadow us, because that's nature: everyone is trying to move forward and if we can giving your neighbor a little shoulder support is better. So we always have to fight, because all MotoGP fans are happy to have in France a channel like Canal+ which does a remarkable job, which follows all the sessions, which follows the Sprint, which follows the main race, which follows all other categories. And there have to be people working on that, it's not free, it's not obligatory and it's not easy. So we hope that for all these things, in quotes, yes Liberty Media can help MotoGP to grow or at least to maintain the place it has today, because the competition is permanent: it is on the track between Moto GP pilots but it is also MotoGP against all the sports on the planet, eh!

So it is rather in this sense that Liberty Media can help us grow or at least keep the place we have today. You see, for example, I remember: we went to Austin and F1 goes to Austin. We never had a lot of people and F1 did even less than us, because there was only NASCAR in the USA, only this, only that, only that. And we have never managed to take off in the USA, and so in Austin there is always this small reservoir of spectators and frankly we don't feel any fervor for Moto GP when we go to the city of Austin. But F1 today, which was really in an even worse situation than us, is doing well. There are 200000 people there, people come from all corners of the US to see the Formula 1 race, and that, the impact of F1 on the North American continent, it's really Liberty Media who put a huge boost. So then they also go to Miami, that's Liberty Media, they also go to Las Vegas among others. We're not going to go on circuits like that, because oWe will never drive on city circuits, we will not go to Monaco, like we will not go to Melbourne, et cetera. But if you take Austin, F1/motorcycles 15 years ago and F1/motorcycles today, wow! And I think that Liberty Media really helped make F1 what it is now in Austin, and motorcycling, we have to recognize that until now we have never found the solution to be a success in the United States. And the idea would be that we really have a great Grand Prix, and when I say great it also means spectator attendance on site. It also means continuing to help us detect nationalities other than the Spanish and also the Italians. So they can help us with that too, so that there is more detection in all the countries which do not have very, very significant representation.

In any case, it's obvious that it's not easy and that might be the occasion for another interview. It's very complicated, but you have to maintain perseverance, you shouldn't do it for 3, 4, 5, 6 years and then say “it didn't work, we'll stop”. You must never give up, you must continue, continue, continue. Well, here we have a Joe Roberts who isn't doing too badly, but we have to keep looking, we have to keep looking. So we have to manage to have a great Grand Prix in Texas, and maybe we will have a second Grand Prix on the North American continent, why not? He deserves it, you see, when you see the number of Grands Prix we have in Europe.

Look at the United States, in terms of economy, motorcycle market and potential interest in MotoGP…
And then having new owners who want to discuss while respecting the people who manage today, it's always, not more intelligent, but it's sometimes by discussing freely, by asking people who arrive with a slightly new eye, a little different, which can be done to move forward. »

Let's come to Pedro Acosta. So seen from outdoors, it's a genius extraterrestrial, not a meteorite by thaton hope which it va last, doing more a rookie unbelievable, immediately at a level of the strongest, who does not tombs to et is leaves for fightsthree: for the podium or more. And and, from Le Mans, il tombs a little and misses races it aurait almost pu Win, before coming in a little in the row although appearing always in the top 10. Whyuh? It is Experience , here makes him take his time?