Dorna sporting director Carlos Ezpeleta claims they are not ruling out the possibility of a joint MotoGP and F1 race event hosted by Liberty Media although he acknowledges the proposal might face complications.
The possibility of a landmark weekend event where MotoGP and F1 share the spotlight has been the subject of mounting speculation. The medium-term goal of this approach has drawn a lot of attention from the motorsport fanbase.
The fast-moving rumors are centered around Liberty Media which recently acquired MotoGP and also holds the commercial rights to Formula 1. Since Liberty is now the home of both championships, talks of a potential joint race weekend for the two have resurfaced.
Some clarification has been provided by Carlos Ezpeleta, a key member of the MotoGP management team and the son of series chief Carmelo. He made it clear that a combined F1-MotoGP event isn’t currently in their plans, but it is a possibility that will be taken into account in the future.
“Well, it’s something that at the moment, for obvious reasons, is not in the immediate plans and it’s not something that we are working on, but it’s not something that we are ruling out for the medium-term future either,” Ezpeleta said.
“But having said that, the reality is that it makes limited sense, because at the end of the day we have some events with our own fan base, which is a different fan base in most places to the Formula 1 fan base.
“They sell, they sell out in many circuits and so do we, so getting all of us together in the same event, in the same weekend, has difficulties and the return on investment is not very clear today.
“Then you also have problems with the different sponsors, the TV cameras, so it is a project, or it would be a rather complicated project, let’s say.”
Determining a track that can accommodate both the fast Formula 1 cars and the nimble MotoGP bikes presents challenges considering that not many venues are suitable for both types of racing machinery.
While Ezpeleta acknowledged that there are “a number of circuits” that can support both series, he also noted that such tracks are few and far apart.
“There are a number of circuits that can run both [series],” he added. “But there are not so many, so it is a project that is not discarded, but we are not working on it either.”
The future of World Superbikes under the new Liberty arrangement is still unknown but Ezpeleta says there are no plans for MotoGP and the production-based series to host any combined races for the time being.
“It’s something that has been talked about for a long time and the reality, being very direct, I do not know the benefit,” he added. “Clearly it would make exposure to Superbike more relevant, MotoGP I think would have little to do there.
“There is quite an important crossover of fans and I don’t know if the people who go to Montmelo for Superbikes… I think they also go to MotoGP.
“It doesn’t make a lot of sense with both together because you are not going to attract more people and you have to pay for both things, Superbike and MotoGP, so it doesn’t make much sense at the moment.”
