Carmelo Ezpeleta, CEO of Dorna, ready to make a choice that goes against the wishes of the riders. The announcement during a business talk in Spain.
MotoGP wants to broaden its horizons and from next year will double the number of races with the introduction of the Sprint Races. Dorna CEO, Carmelo Ezpeleta, has decided to bring the number of Grands Prix to 21 and to expand the geographical area covered by the 2023 calendar, introducing stops in Kazakhstan and India. A doubly strategic choice, to make converts in other areas of the planet and satisfy market demands.
This morning the MotoGP boss took part in the business talk ‘Events, Quo Vadis?’ which was held in Pamplona, where he shared the stage with another manager of great depth, his counterpart in the F1 World Championship, Stefano Domenicali. Ezpeleta does not hide that the four-wheel Circus is a pool of ideas from which to draw for the MotoGP class: “Everything I see Stefano does (Sundays) and I can do it, I do”. One of the points in common between the two motorsport categories is “the relationship with the teams and factories, which is very close. Private teams are very proactive“.
Ezpeleta sets another short-term goal
The MotoGP calendar foresees 21 Grands Prix in 2023, the range of interest widens above all towards the emerging markets of Asia, so as to also satisfy the requests of the manufacturers, after the already recent entries of Thailand and Indonesia. In the near future, it may also prove useful to add another stop in the USA in addition to the one in Austin, Texas, because it is “the largest economy in the world“.
But Carmelo Ezpeleta doesn’t stop there, as he plans to move on to 22 Grands Prix in the not too distant future. An option that almost all the riders and teams in the world championship disagrees with, given that the new program already provides for an enormous effort from an economic, logistical and human point of view. “Our dream would be to be able to have 22“said the Spanish manager, “is the big short-term goal“.
Champions such as Aleix Espargarò, Alex Rins and Marc Marquez have already expressed themselves extensively on this issue. The latter stressed that “you have to stay within the maximum 21 races“. But faced with financial and sponsor needs, the MotoGP world championship could soon be expanded, in light of the F1 calendar which will count 24 races next year. However, we must not forget that the risk of accidents on two wheels is much greater than in car racing.
