MotoGP: Ezpeleta seeks new "solutions" to the crisis, not the "war" with the manufacturers

Carmelo Ezpeleta, CEO of Dorna is looking for solutions to deal with the economic crisis which has also affected MotoGP. This year, as a first step to "reinforce" the grid (given that Suzuki also withdrew), a new "status" was granted, that of CRT. In practice, the so-called Claiming Rules Teams have 12 engines at their disposal (compared to the 6 of the manufacturers belonging to the MSMA) and the tank capacity is 24 liters compared to the 21 of the official teams. The chassis is a prototype, but the engine is derived from the series.

However, this will not be enough for the future and so there have been meetings to find a meeting point with the manufacturers who are examining the various proposals. One of these should be to have only one motorbike available as early as 2013. There was also talk of a rpm limit (14.500/15.000 rpm) and the cost of leasing the prototype motorbikes which should not exceed one million. EUR. It was then proposed to reduce the number of engines per pilot from 6 to 5 (this only for prototypes).

What is certain is that Ezpeleta does not want a "war" with the manufacturers, but only wants to find valid solutions to this crisis. Today's costs have become unsustainable and therefore we are working to bring them back within limits. In this regard, here are the words of Hervè Pocnharal, owner of Team Tech 3 (in the photo Dovizioso in conversation with the Yamaha technicians).

“There seems to be a consensus on the one bike per rider rule. The main objective is to reduce costs and the MSMA has underlined that this is a proposal and that it could already come into force from next year. Carmelo (Ezpeleta) is very strong on this point and asked all of us (independent teams) not to start negotiations with manufacturers who ask for more than one million euros for leasing – Poncharal told MCN – It was also very clear to say that the houses will not be able to go to another team in case of refusal on our part, they will not be able to ask for more than a million. He would like to finalize the ideas by the end of May to make them official by the end of June. His goal is to make changes gradually with the goal of having everyone on the same level in 2015. But let's be clear about one thing. Carmelo is not at war with anyone. He is not at war with the MSMA and is very aware of what Yamaha, Honda and Ducati have done and are doing for the championship and is aware of the fact that it would be a huge loss if they were to withdraw. He doesn't want any "war", but he has made it clear that we have reached a point where we cannot go forward. I think the houses have understood the message and are willing to work to find solutions. Clearly it is vitally important to find some solutions moving forward. We have postponed some radical decisions for the time being, but we can no longer live in the current economic conditions.”