It is from next season that MotoGP could make its return to the famous Derbyshire track, after eight years spent at Silverstone (circuit now for sale) and the fiasco of the Circuit of Wales. New Donington manager Jonathan Palmer came to Misano this weekend to speak with Carmelo Ezpeleta.
After briefly practicing medicine, Palmer, born in 1956, then devoted himself full-time to motorsport and drove in F1 between 1983 and 1989 for McLaren, Tyrrell, Williams, RAM and Zakspeed. In 1985 he also finished second in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Porsche with James Weaver and Richard Lloyd.
In short, Jonathan Palmer made some rounds on the circuits, and he put them in the bank. He then created his company MotorSport Vision which notably owns the British Superbike (BSB) and the circuits of Brands Hatch, Oulton Park, Snetterton, Cadwell Park and Bedford Autodrome in the United Kingdom, as well as Laon-Couvron in France.
He has just purchased the rights to use Donington Park in January 2017, for a 21-year lease until 2038. And this is where it gets interesting, because Palmer wants to organize great races on his new track, including of course MotoGP which is suffering the worst turpitudes for years in the United Kingdom due to the grotesque situation of the Circuit of Wales (in which Dorna placed its trust a little too quickly) and also because the owners of the circuit of Silverstone (the BRDC or British Racing Drivers' Club) put its facilities up for sale, without finding a serious buyer. Just Jaguar, to make it a test track, but local residents are not very attracted to night endurance tests.
Palmer came to Misano to speak with Carmelo about a possible Grand Prix at Donington, knowing that the Spanish business leader was very disappointed this year at Silverstone when counting the spectators, with 17 people present less than last year. Donington therefore has every chance, but fairly significant work is to be expected, both for the safety of the pilots and for the reception of the public.
Title photo: Jonathan Palmer (right) in deep discussion (author of the photo unknown)
Other photos: “Once upon a time in Donington” (© motogp.com)
Source: MCN
