Carmelo Ezpeleta

Dorna Press Release Debrief: Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta gives an update on 2020

Submitted by Press Release on

Dorna released the following press release today, containing the transcript of an interview MotoGP.com did with CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta:

Debrief: Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta gives an update on 2020

Wednesday, 29 April 2020

On Wednesday the 29th of April, Dorna Sports CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta sat down with motogp.com for an interview about 2020, plans, contingencies and more. Here is the transcript, you can find the video here.

"Today we announced the cancellation of the three Grands Prix; Germany, Assen and Finland. The reason is because we are contemplating the possibility to start in July but the problem is with the situation and authorities it will be difficult to do with spectators, so any of these Grands Prix without spectators is very difficult to do. It’s for that reason that we’ve decided with the three local promoters to pass onto next year with those three, instead of putting them on a new date."

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Opinion: When Will We Go Racing Again? Nobody Knows

Submitted by David Emmett on

When we will be able to go racing? That's the question everybody wants an answer to, as MotoGP and WorldSBK rounds are canceled seemingly every week. The COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak has cast a pall over the world that not even motorcycle racing can escape. This week, MotoGP was canceled at Mugello and Barcelona. Last week, it was MotoGP at Le Mans, the week before that, Jerez MotoGP and Assen WorldSBK. Each race is canceled as it heaves into view on the calendar.

So when will we be able to go racing again? I don't know. You don't know. The truth is, nobody knows, not even Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta or FIM president Jorge Viegas. Because it is out of their hands. Organizing a world championship motorcycle race is complicated, and requires large numbers of people and equipment to cross multiple national borders using various modes of transport.

Freedom of movement

A couple of examples: For the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP team to get to the first MotoGP race which has not been canceled, at the Sachsenring in Germany, they need to drive trucks from Gerno di Lesmo, near Milan in Italy, through either Switzerland or Austria and up through Germany to Hohenstein-Ernstthal, where the Sachsenring is.

There is a mixture of nationalities among the drivers of those trucks, making just getting to the trucks a complicated affair. One driver, for example, is a Dutchman living in Norway. His journey would involve flying from central Norway to Milan, then driving up from Milan to the Sachsenring. On his return to Norway, he would face a 14-day quarantine before being allowed to go home.

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Dorna Press Release: Carmelo Ezpeleta Interview On The 2020 MotoGP Season

Submitted by David Emmett on

Dorna today issued a press release containing an interview with CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta, in which he updates everyone on the plans for the 2020 MotoGP season, and how they are handling the current coronavirus outbreak. You can also watch the interview with Ezpeleta on the MotoGP.com website.

Interview: Dorna Sports CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta
Thursday, 12 March 2020

Following the recent updates to the 2020 MotoGP™ calendar, Dorna Sports CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta sat down for an interview on the changes and how the sport is reacting to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. Despite the recent difficulties faced by much of the sporting world, the message to the MotoGP™ community remains an optimistic one as work continues round the clock to get our tantalising 2020 season underway.

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Changing The Qatar Race Start Time: No Good Answers To An Intractable Problem

Submitted by David Emmett on

The Qatar round of MotoGP is problematic for all sorts of reasons. Even setting aside the human rights issues, there are challenges from every direction in staging the race at the Losail International Circuit, just north of Qatari capital. Those challenges are due to the choices being made, and the choices are being made because of money.

The biggest problem is that the choices being made are all slightly at odds with one another. Qatar wants to be the first race of the MotoGP season, and pays a large premium for the privilege. Enough to cover air freight for the series for all of the flyaway races during the season. That need not of itself be a problem, but to make the race look more spectacular, the circuit wants to hold the race at night, under the incredible set of floodlights which light up the track. And of course, because it is the first race of the season, Dorna want to hold it at a time when it will receive maximum media attention. The right time slot for the race in key European markets is important.

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Dorna Press Release: Statement By Carmelo Ezpeleta On Argentina MotoGP Race

Submitted by Press Release on

Dorna today issued a press release containing a statement from the company's CEO, Carmelo Ezpeleta, on the events at the Argentina round of MotoGP at the Termas De Rio Hondo circuit. The press release appears below, or you can watch a video of Ezpeleta's statement on the MotoGP.com website:

Carmelo Ezpeleta: "I respect the decisions taken by the stewards"

A day after the Gran Premio Motul de la República Argentina, Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta, has commented on the issues surrounding the start of the MotoGP™ race, which was delayed due to the changing weather conditions.

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Carmelo Ezpeleta's Grand Plan, Or The Long History Behind Tech3's Switch To KTM

Submitted by David Emmett on

Sometimes decisions are a long time in the making. Tech3's decision to leave Yamaha and sign with KTM may have been made in the space of a few months, but the genesis of that choice, the process that made it all possible is ten years in the making. If MotoGP hadn't switched from 990cc to 800cc at the start of the 2007 season, if the ban on tobacco sponsorship in sports hadn't been enforced from 2005, if the financial system hadn't collapsed under the weight of tranches of "ninja" loans, Tech3 would be a Yamaha satellite team for the foreseeable future. Whether they wanted to be or not.

How did MotoGP get to a place where Tech3 could switch to KTM? To make complete sense of the story, we have to go back to the end of the last century. Through the last 1990s, the popularity of Grand Prix racing was waning, while the World Superbike series went from strength to strength. The manufacturers were losing interest in the 500cc class, as two strokes were gradually disappearing from the road.

Big bore four strokes were the flavor of the month among motorcycle buyers, and the factories were investing less and less in their two stroke racers. The manufacturers expressed an interest in racing four strokes in the premier class, and Dorna sketched out a contract with the MSMA, the organization representing the manufacturers, and MotoGP was born.

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Dorna Sports Handed Multi-million Euro Fines For Tax Evasion

Submitted by David Emmett on

The Spanish Supreme Court has imposed multi-million dollar fines on Dorna Sports and its executives for tax offenses arising out of the sale of shares in 2003 and 2004. The court found that Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta and COO & CFO Enrique Aldama had simulated the sale of shares in order to avoid paying income tax and to receive undeclared dividends from the shares the two men hold. 

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MotoGP Rule Change Imminent: 'Intermediate' Category To Be Added Between Factory Option And Open Classes

Submitted by David Emmett on

The CRT-replacement Open class in MotoGP is causing an even bigger shake up of the class than was expected. The outright speed of the Forward Yamaha at the first two Sepang tests provoked a testy response from Honda, who claimed it was entirely against the spirit of the rules. Then came news that Ducati was to switch to an Open entry, giving them the freedom to develop their engines and use more fuel, in exchange for giving up their own ECU software. This provoked an even angrier response from Honda, Repsol Honda team principal Livio Suppo telling the MotoGP.com website that they were unhappy with the introduction of the new ECU software Magneti Marelli brought to the second Sepang test, which was much more sophisticated, though it was not used by the teams.

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Carmelo Ezpeleta Speaks To Reuters: On Races In Brazil And Asia, And On Spanish Riders In MotoGP

Submitted by David Emmett on

That MotoGP is too Iberocentric - too many Spanish races, and too many Spanish riders - is obvious to all who follow the sport, with the possible exception of a blinkered Spanish journalist or two. The series has to change, to move away from having four races a season in Spain, and to explore new markets in South America and Asia.

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