MotoGP News
Date: 11/October/2012
Carmelo Ezpeleta, CEO of MotoGP organiser Dorna Sports, did his best to calm concerns following the shock announcement that Dorna is to run both MotoGP and its arch-rival the World Superbike Championship.
The unexpected marriage has been triggered by private equity firm Bridgepoint, Dorna’s main owner, acquiring Infront Sports & Media at the end of last year. Part of the vast Infront portfolio included the commercial rights to WSBK, through Infront Motorsports.
It had appeared that the separation between the controllers of the FIM’s two biggest World Championships - MotoGP for prototypes (as F1 is for cars) and WSBK for production bikes (sports cars) - would continue, but the running of WSBK has now been integrated within Dorna.
On the eve of this weekend’s Japanese MotoGP round, Ezpeleta held a special press conference to talk about Dorna’s new role.
The Spaniard - the closest MotoGP gets to a Bernie Ecclestone figure - explained that the change had been made by Bridgepoint after the two championships failed to agree on future technical rules.
Dorna has long felt that WSBK allows too many technical modifications for a production Championship, while Infront has been angered by MotoGP allowing Superbike-powered ‘CRT’ bikes to be raced by privateers in grand prix.
Ezpeleta said: “Since Bridgepoint’s acquisition of Infront, we have been having meetings with Infront Motorsports to try to adapt the technical rules of both championships.
“This has been impossible. So finally the decision of Bridgepoint was to maintain two separate championships - and separate companies - but both under the umbrella of Dorna Sports.
“We are still talking with the people to know exactly who will run WSBK, but at the top of both championships there will be Dorna.”
Aware that instability could cause teams and manufacturers to desert WSBK, Ezpeleta emphasised that nothing will change for 2013 and that Dorna was committed to the long term success of both Championships.
"For next year things will continue as they are. Both MotoGP and WSBK will continue the same way, with exactly the same system of organisation and technical rules.
“And from now, together with the FIM, the manufacturers, the circuits and with the teams, we will try to accommodate these difficult economic times to set up two championships that are able to continue and to grow together.”
Ezpeleta gave little away in terms of Dorna’s specific 2014 intentions for WSBK.
However it is well known that he is currently pushing for major MotoGP cost cutting proposals for the 2014 season, including the possibility of a control ECU and rev limit.
With MotoGP and WSBK lap times presently only a few seconds’ apart, corresponding technical restrictions would need to occur in WSBK in order for MotoGP to maintain its position of superiority.
“We are in favour of reducing the costs and increasing the show. This is the main aim of both championships,” he said.
Ezpeleta’s only specific example was in terms of engine restrictions. Currently MotoGP riders are limited to six engines per season, but in WSBK there is no limit at all.
“A Championship derived from production bikes that is using 39 engines during one season, and in MotoGP you are only allowed to use six - to be honest it’s not very correct,” he said.
“We need to set up both championships with their own spirit. One is from bikes based on production motorcycles, and another is for prototypes. This is something we will do with the FIM first, and then with the manufacturers.”
Previously agreed changes for the 2013 WSBK Championship, expected to be officially announced at last weekend’s season-finale, have not yet been published.
Many see the delay as a sign of the anxiety now being felt in the WSBK paddock.
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