Carmelo Ezpeleta: “MotoGP has only punctured at Portimao and Mugello”
With the first third of the championship covered, it is a good time to talk to Carmelo Ezpeleta, CEO of Dorna, about an intense MotoGP season like few others, in all areas of the championship.
Dorna has been at the forefront of the Grand Prix since 1992 , and over time has placed the MotoGP World Championship at a level that was surely unthinkable thirty years ago. This season, after the uncertain environment experienced in the two previous campaigns, moments of singular equality are being experienced in MotoGP, with unexpected actors such as Aleix Espargaró and Aprilia appearing at the front positions. To top it off, the announcement of Suzuki's withdrawal at the end of the season has added unexpected uncertainty off the track, shaking up the rider market. And we have only been competing for three months.
We believe that this is a good time to talk about all this and much more with Carmelo Ezpeleta , who gave us a long interview at the Dorna offices to talk at length about the latest MotoGP news. An interview so extensive that we will offer you three installments throughout this week.
QUESTION: What is your assessment for this first third of the season?
ANSWER: Well, well, I think it's going well. We have the cost of the increase in freight (transport), which is an issue that needs to be worked on, but everything else is fine, there is no major problem.
Q: Let's talk about the Suzuki thing first, which as far as I know took you by surprise. Was there no indication that Suzuki was going to announce his forthcoming withdrawal?
A: No. The truth is that no, no indication. Obviously, they made a decision believing that they could make it, which is a very common thing in large companies. I fully understand that a man tells you that for certain things he has to leave, but when you have a contract with someone you have to agree with the other how to leave. They notified me the Monday after Jerez: that they weren't following up and that they were going to make a statement the next day. So I told them not to do it, because if they make a statement I will sue immediately. They told me that they did it this way because that week was Golden Week (N. de R: a festive week in Japan with a national character), and I told them to do it the next one, and that's how it was, making a statement announcing that they were not going to continue. And that seems normal to me. A contract is to be fulfilled, but if it cannot be fulfilled, you look at the way in which it can be interrupted. We agreed that a member of the board of directors would come here, he came, we agreed on a series of conditions, which we are finishing defining, and in a few days we will make a statement saying that we have reached an agreement.
Suzuki will leave MotoGP at the end of 2022
Q: Was it a similar situation to what happened in 2010?
A: No, because on that occasion what I wanted was for them to continue in some way, and this time I didn't make any intentions. The way the championship is now, if someone doesn't want to continue I don't have any problem because I have a lot of people wanting to enter. What's more: after having announced Suzuki in that way that it said not to continue, we have received the call strip and we are waiting. If we don't have a clear choice… First, we will not in any way increase the number of privates, in any way. We like a championship of twenty more than twenty-four. We had to have 22, and we will have 24 if what comes is a manufacturer really willing to seriously commit to the championship and make a minimum period of stay until the end of 2026. That's where we are. But at no point in the conversation [with Suzuki] did he say: well then continue with a motorcycle, as it was the other time. No. I understand that a factory tells me: I can't run. Voucher. So, let's see how we fix it, but… no, please run, leave a motorcycle, call it Hayate… No. Not that. It has not even been put on the table.
Q: Are there real options of a new manufacturer that wants to come to MotoGP?
A: There are many manufacturers, what happens is that we have to see what their real options are and how many manufacturers they are.
Ezpeleta does not give any more clues, but it is clear from his words that what Dorna is not willing to accept is a subsidiary manufacturer of another, as is the case in Moto3 with Husqvarna, GasGas and CFMoto, but only a manufacturer with its own technology will be admitted .
Q: Suzuki's departure leaves only two Japanese manufacturers on the MotoGP grid. Does it affect the balance of forces between the MotoGP manufacturers?
A: That balance of forces is something that you have invented. There is no balance of forces. That is to say, the Japanese do not go together against the Europeans, that is not the case.
Q: It has always been said that Honda had an important weight within the MSMA…
A: Honda's weight is still very important. We have only had Japanese in our championship, then Japanese and some Europeans, and now there are going to be more Europeans than Japanese. And that's it.
AUDIENCES
Q: Let's talk about audiences, both on television and on circuits. This season we have found circuits that usually have a large entrance, in which the attendance of spectators has been significantly reduced.
A: We have not had more failures this year than Mugello, the only one. The rest are not bugs. Well, Mugello and Portimao, the others have been perfect. What happens is that you [journalists] also like to get into that story. Well, I've been in this for thirty years and I've gotten used to how you are, and from here I'll tell you. Well, go ahead, yours. Is not true. If you analyze: Qatar, the same as always has come; Indonesia, was full, of all who wanted; Argentina, was full; United States, had more than the previous time; Portimao, it was bad, it was bad because he promoted it badly.
The stands of Portimao
Q: Was it a problem of the local promoter?
A: Yes, it was a promotion problem. He says that it was also near Jerez and it may have been that too. And if there are failures, they must be recognized and solved for the following year. Sherry went well. It is not true that there were fewer, what happens is that, as in Jerez and everywhere else, the number of passes is also counted, and since the passes have been reduced by 70 percent, that is about 7,000 fewer people, which is precisely the difference between Jerez in 2019 and Jerez in 2022. It is not true that Jerez was bad: Jerez was very good. After that we went to France: total success. Total success of a guy, who when there was neither Quartararo nor Zarco was also successful, not as great as now, he was also successful, that is, he promoted well. Mugello: bad.
Q: And why is Mugello bad?
A: For various reasons, some attributable to them and others to us. The F1 calendar changed and we coincided with the Monaco Grand Prix, that in Italy everything that is Ferrari is important. That is an error. And second, I think they did little promotional work. We've already talked about it. We are still receiving a lot of requests to do Grands Prix, but as much as we are talking about doing two Grands Prix in Italy, if they are not successful we will not do two. In Italy two Grand Prix are held because both were successful, because they influence the presence of many Italian teams in the paddock... But you have to have an audience. I am not going to rotate one of the Spanish Grands Prix that are full or almost always full, to make one in Italy that is not full. I think there is a solution, and we have to work, us on our side to achieve a date that does not coincide with F1, in a place where Italy is so important. But there is no reason to be that as the championship came to Italy, with Aprilia and Ducati in the lead, with Italians winning, and it turns out that fewer people go. Well, there's no reason to be.
Q: You were surprised by the change of dates for the Monaco GP.
A: F1 in Monaco was traditionally throughout history on Pentecost, seven weeks after Easter Sunday. Not this year, this year has been before. We had thought that Pentecost would coincide with Catalonia, which is not a good idea either, because in Catalonia that Monday is a holiday. The calendar is complicated to do, but in the places where there has been less public, which have been Portimao and Mugello, because the entry into Catalonia is less than it has given again, but of course, how much does it influence that the previous week Márquez says that not coming? And 67,000 spectators came. Let's see how many events there are in Spain like this... I'm not ready for that discussion of "look at F1"... And why didn't we look at F1 when we had almost twice as many as them and here no one from F1 said, "Motorcycles are giving us a slap in the face"? That has been the news, the news has been “only 67,000 spectators have come to Catalonia”. Look how nice, "only" 67,000 viewers... What else do you have 67,000, where? That they went more to F1, okay. It is in a special situation, growing a lot, and I have always said that we are the second motorsport in the world, I have always said it. And we still are. I don't compare myself with F1, which has a series of assets that I know very well, and we have others that I also know very well. We are more spectacular and they have more possibility of influencing through the tremendous marketing force of the car factories to do a series of things, and that's it. “only” 67,000 viewers… What else do you have 67,000, where? That they went more to F1, okay. It is in a special situation, growing a lot, and I have always said that we are the second motorsport in the world, I have always said it. And we still are. I don't compare myself with F1, which has a series of assets that I know very well, and we have others that I also know very well. We are more spectacular and they have more possibility of influencing through the tremendous marketing force of the car factories to do a series of things, and that's it. “only” 67,000 viewers… What else do you have 67,000, where? That they went more to F1, okay. It is in a special situation, growing a lot, and I have always said that we are the second motorsport in the world, I have always said it. And we still are. I don't compare myself with F1, which has a series of assets that I know very well, and we have others that I also know very well. We are more spectacular and they have more possibility of influencing through the tremendous marketing force of the car factories to do a series of things, and that's it. And we still are. I don't compare myself with F1, which has a series of assets that I know very well, and we have others that I also know very well. We are more spectacular and they have more possibility of influencing through the tremendous marketing force of the car factories to do a series of things, and that's it. And we still are. I don't compare myself with F1, which has a series of assets that I know very well, and we have others that I also know very well. We are more spectacular and they have more possibility of influencing through the tremendous marketing force of the car factories to do a series of things, and that's it.
Q: MotoGP is enjoying a good moment.
A: We are not worse off and nothing is wrong with us, on the contrary, we are better, above all because of a very important issue: the number of demands from countries that want to hold Grand Prix. If I could do 26 Grand Prix, I have countries to be able to do them. No, no, that story seems very good to me, okay. I think it would be a lot of fun to sell other things, to sell a super-even championship, a championship won by different brands... I think it would be more fun, but the one who has to think about it is the one who writes it, and he will know.
Q: This is something that has always caught my attention, we discussed it in one of our podcasts on MOTORCYCLING. It seems to me that there is a somewhat absurd nonconformity, in my opinion: the more competitive and even the championship is, the more we complain that there is not a guy who is sweeping...
A: That's just awesome. I have experienced both: hey, this championship dominated by Doohan is a pain in the ass, five titles in a row… What will happen when Doohan leaves? Boom, Rossi is coming. Damn, this Rossi winning all the championships… And then, what will happen when Rossi leaves? Now there was Márquez, and now Márquez is gone. There is a guy like Fabio [Quartararo] who is a standard bearer for a country like France, with a huge population. I am telling you the truth? In the end, I don't know if it's just that I have a very hard back, it's that he doesn't give me exactly the same thing, he doesn't give me exactly the same thing. The health or not of what is coming is given to you by what the promoters ask of you. Right now we have open, and obviously I'm not going to say from where, like six Grand Prix that ask to have a place. That shows you if you have health or not; the rest is the same to me. And what you can't do, like an ostrich, is that if you have a problem somewhere, don't say you have it. And this year we have only had Portimao and Mugello. I just spoke with Germany, tickets are practically sold out and more than in 2019, in a place where there are no German runners. I have spoken with the Netherlands, in a place where Verstappen is now the pear. All these things, placing Portimao that does not touch Jerez, or that Catalonia does not fall into a party, are things that we look at. That the most beautiful news to give is "great drop in viewers...". Fine, fine, thank you, thank you very much. in a place where there are no German runners. I have spoken with the Netherlands, in a place where Verstappen is now the pear. All these things, placing Portimao that does not touch Jerez, or that Catalonia does not fall into a party, are things that we look at. That the most beautiful news to give is "great drop in viewers...". Fine, fine, thank you, thank you very much. in a place where there are no German runners. I have spoken with the Netherlands, in a place where Verstappen is now the pear. All these things, placing Portimao that does not touch Jerez, or that Catalonia does not fall into a party, are things that we look at. That the most beautiful news to give is "great drop in viewers...". Fine, fine, thank you, thank you very much.
Q: Is it possible that in Mugello the absence of Valentino on the track had an influence?
A: We will see it in Misano. Because really in Mugello there was very little promotion. We made the retreat from 46 on Saturday, and the people who came came. Honestly, I think people have turned the page. Valentino has been retiring for a number of years and that has had an influence. We will see. It is also that Valentino was not only in Italy. The other day I looked, because it's my obligation, and I saw what the stands were like, and there are still a lot of people dressed as Valentino and a lot of people are still buying Valentino merchandising. Valentino has a team, he is there, although it is not the same as if he were on a motorcycle, and winning, because in recent years he has not won. I think we have to do a lot of promotional work in Italy because it's hard to explain that a country that has Aprilia and Ducati, and a cast of guys who can win and have won this year in MotoGP,