Whether it is on the scale of the planet or of our favorite sport, the situation is relatively serious. Also, as Carmelo Ezpeleta, the big boss of MotoGP, himself asks, it seems very important to us today to refer entirely to his words, and only, without falling into risky hypotheses as to the continuation of the championship…
Carmelo Ezpeleta : " Hello and thank you all. You know the things that happened. I received a lot of questions from journalists over the past weekend and we decided it was best to do this press conference to provide an update on where we are, what's happening so far and on what we are preparing for the period between now and the end of the season. »
“First of all, it is important to clarify that the collaboration with the Qatari authorities has really been very good. Since things started, the situation has changed every day and we have tried to accommodate it with the agreement of everyone in the paddock to do the best we can. »
“Starting last Saturday, we started to see problems regarding some nationalities who were supposed to come to Qatar. We started to take this into account but we were very lucky that the Moto2 and Moto3 tests took place a week ago and everyone involved was there. This made it very easy for us to organize the two races we will do here. From the start, we decided with the Losail International Circuit, the Qatari federation and the Qatari government to do the Moto2 and Moto3 races, as well as the Asia Talent Cup. »
“Then we talked every day and there were a lot of discussions between Saturday morning and Saturday evening with the Qatari authorities. We considered different possibilities until Sunday morning, when everything seemed more or less OK. Many people arriving from Italy had landed in Doha without problem, then, suddenly, in the middle of the day, because of the situation in Europe which had changed for several governments, the situation changed profoundly here. Effective immediately, people who came from Italy or other countries were going to be required to quarantine here in Qatar, this obviously made things difficult and we started looking at other possibilities. Among them, one was to charter a charter for all people living in Italy, since this does not only concern Italian nationals. We tried to organize a flight from France or another country to try to bring the minimum number of people to participate. We even spoke with the other people to agree that all the MotoGP teams, even those who were full, would use the same maximum number of people as the others. We tried to do that and we almost had an agreement by Saturday afternoon. Actually, what we saw was that everyone came very early because it was then allowed to return to Qatar, but as I said, early on Sunday afternoon a flight arrived from Rome and all people, not just Italians, were prohibited from entering here: they could either return to Italy or stay 14 days in quarantine here. Obviously, none of these possibilities were good for us and we then tried to organize a flight from Nice by asking that certain elements of the MotoGP community, mechanics, engineers and riders, could come only for the race, stay in a certain place and leave. But we also saw that this was not possible on Sunday afternoon.
I spoke with the Ministry of Sports and then they spoke with the Ministry of Health, but I must say, and it is very important to say, that the collaboration with the authorities of Qatar has been good and that we have with them tried to make the race possible. This is the current situation. »
“What will happen in the future? This is something we cannot predict. It depends, because the situation is changing daily across the world and the only thing I can say is that we will try to do everything possible: either postpone or something else. Our objective today is to work together, as we have done throughout this period, to try to make the championship in the best possible conditions and while maintaining as much racing as we can. We have been prepared for this. This is the situation. »
“The next Grand Prix is in the United States but we don’t know anything. We wait until the last moment to send all the material. If the situation changes between now and then, we will make a decision. It is also clear that we tried to move the race to the United States towards the end of the year instead of one of the races in Spain, since due to the short time we have before the end of March to racing, it is impossible for a circuit to organize a MotoGP race between now and the end of March. »
“The situation means that today we are announcing the new date for Thailand thanks to the help provided by the government of Aragón which has brought forward the race in Aragón by one week: we will race in Thailand a week later . »
“So we have many possibilities taking into account all the elements, and the main objective of the FIM, IRTA and Dorna is to maintain the championship. This must be clear. »
“Then we ask the entire MotoGP community not to pay attention to rumors. Please ! Because there are always people who are very happy to announce things that are forbidden or things that are not…
“We are all together, we are talking with all the people around the world and we will try to make the championship: we are strong enough to try to do it! The first article we have in any contract with developers is that we must respect the laws. If there's a law against it, there's nothing we can do, but until there's a law that stops us from going somewhere, we'll keep going. And when the law prohibits us for the moment, we are already thinking about the future: our objective, at the FIM, at the IRTA and at Dorna, is to maintain the championship with the maximum number of races! It's like that ! »
" The rest ? We are taking measures here with the Losail International Circuit, such as not having spectators in the paddock, or what we have well prepared as specialist equipment in case a case arises among the paddock community, as this can arrive. We have also taken various measures to make the situation of the Moto2 and Moto3 teams better. »
“We have the local authorities, the health authorities and everything else connected together to do the best we can, but our primary desire is to tell everyone that we want to do the Grands Prix, and I am sure we can do them! Of course, it will not be a normal championship and we will undoubtedly have to change things, but we always want to maintain two things: that the sporting side is equal for everyone, and then to adapt to the situation. This is something very clear! »
If the United States and Argentina are affected by the virus, is there a material solution to postpone them until the end of the season?
“Today, yes! Today, both! The United States and Argentina are OK, but I am not saying what will happen in the near future, but I am saying that we have enough possibilities to resolve the problems. For me, after the United States and Argentina, we will be in Europe and it will depend on the situation in Europe. This is the most critical thing. Now some authorities have banned large numbers of spectators. The problem comes from two things: the number of spectators together and the situation in the paddock in relation to certain banned nationalities. We are thinking of solutions for each of these points. Even so, we think of possibilities to talk to the authorities: with each measure that comes, we have ideas to react to these measures. »
Is there a possibility of watching races without spectators around the circuits?
" Everything is possible ! The most important thing for us is to have a solution, all together with everything. We always say that Dorna, with its agreement with the FIM and IRTA, is a racing company. This is our obligation! For us, more important than the economic side is shopping! And I can assure you, with the collaboration of all the people at IRTA and all the managers of the MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3 teams, that we will try to do as many races as we can! I'm not telling you now that I'm optimistic, or not, but the only thing I promise you is that we will work hard to get the races done, whatever the solutions! The 19 remaining races! »
Is there a chance to race MotoGP in Qatar later?
" No. The MotoGP race in Qatar is canceled, and that much is clear. As they have already spent the money to come here, all the MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3 teams will receive [their payment]. Additionally, Qatar has committed to work for next year and they need to start now because they have already planned the work. If, at the end of the season, there is a possibility, then we will see. But today we will have Moto2 and Moto3 races this weekend and in principle the Qatar MotoGP is canceled. But whatever possibility presented itself, we would study it. Of course, since it is a sporting battle between the participants, when we publish the schedule and the regulations, it is simple for everyone. Each change could only take place with everyone's agreement, but from the conversations I've had with the teams, everyone wants to do as many races as possible, under the same equal conditions for everyone. the world. »
Is this commitment that you have with MotoGP the same with Superbike?
" Absolutely ! The reason is that Superbike was canceled for next week for exactly the same reasons: a lot of people coming from Italy. We will see if it is possible to do it again, but, particularly in Qatar, we have moved more of the traditional dates from the end of the year to the beginning of the year, just to allow ourselves to be able to work on the future. »
Is this cancellation of the MotoGP race in Qatar an opportunity to highlight Moto2 and Moto3?
“We always try to promote Moto2 and Moto3! These are very important categories and we have always retained the MotoGP championship with three categories, and I think that is one of our big achievements. This weekend, the focus will be more on Moto2 and Moto3, since MotoGP will not take place. Normally it's the opposite but yes, it's a great opportunity and we're happy about it, because the Moto2 and Moto3 teams and riders were already here. If we had known that, it would have been very simple to tell the MotoGP teams and riders to stay here, since they left only four or five days before. In that case, we would have had everything. But I repeat, one of the things about this coronavirus crisis is that the situation changes every day. You may wonder what would have happened if we had prevented this. Things have been clear since the last weekend and now we are showing as much imagination as possible to find out what we can do, whatever happens. I repeat, it is very important for us to maintain the calendar and do the maximum number of races while maintaining the same sporting opportunities for everyone. »
How many people were you planning to bring here on charter?
“We considered, and it seemed possible, to bring around 150 people. With these 150 people and around fifty people coming from elsewhere, the race was possible. But the problem is that they immediately banned everyone. I repeat, it was not only people of Italian nationality but also all people coming from Italy or having stayed in Italy during the last 14 days. »
Have you considered the possibility of a blood test to be able to enter Qatar?
“We worked on it but, anyway, we followed up with the Ministry of Health of Qatar, and they said it was not possible. But of course, we keep this possibility for the future, to do a blood test in advance. On the other hand, bringing people from Italy to the circuit 14 days in advance and keeping them in quarantine is obviously not possible. We think we have other possibilities. Keep in mind that in this particular case we only know about problems with MotoGP, but from now on there will be a lot more people coming from Italy because of the Moto2 and Moto3 teams, and we have to consider that to do MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3 races, a minimum number of more than 1 people is required. »
In the worst scenario, what is the minimum number of races that must take place for the championship to be validated?
“Contractually, with the FIM, there must be 13 races. But our goal is to do the remaining 19 races, if we can. And there are possibilities! Even in the worst case scenario, even with the most cancellations, we have enough time. Maybe we race in countries where it's hot at Christmas (laughs) but we are tough as nails and our job is to race, and we will race! The FIM president I spoke with today may come tomorrow, and maybe they will have to postpone the FIM president ceremony, but for us the most important thing is to race. »
