The month of July is slowly approaching and, in a interview given to Marca, Carmelo Ezpeleta confirms for the first time the date of the 19th as the possible, even probable, launch of the 2020 MotoGP season.
The big boss of Dorna Sports is indeed relatively optimistic, only waiting for a government agreement to make the news official at the beginning of June: “If they didn't approve the protocol planned for Jerez on July 19, maybe it would start later and we would move back, or we would run elsewhere and go to Spain later. Our intention is to start on July 19 in Jerez, but we are dependent on receiving the necessary authorizations. »
Once these short-term problems have been resolved, it remains to be seen the medium-term consequences of this health and economic crisis on MotoGP, in particular with the possible renunciation of this or that manufacturer, as Kawasaki did at the end of 2008.
And there, Carmelo Ezpeleta demonstrates the lucidity of a great business leader, who knows that the future is never written in advance, while revealing to us that, before the above-mentioned crisis, he had received several requests to join the premier category of Grand Prix.
“It’s a risk that always exists. We have a contract with all the manufacturers, except Aprilia which participates with the Gresini team, until 2021. Normally, those who have a contract participate. Recently, we had received registration requests from manufacturers and we limited ourselves to the current five plus Aprilia. We always have to be on the lookout for teams or manufacturers who stop being there. The coronavirus may increase these possibilities. That's not what they tell us, but these are risks we can never ignore. »
We obviously don't want that, without being able to stop ourselves from wondering who could have applied for the global competition.
Both because of what we saw and much more recent declarations, Kawasaki seems a priori excluded.
So, BMW? Implausible…
Who else ?
Cover photo: Suter-BMW by Colin Edwards in 2012
