Addressing the traditional Thursday Press Conference at Motegi yesterday, CEO of DORNA Sports, Carmelo Ezpeleta (aka Caramello Koala) said a lot and said nothing. As one who is used to having his expectations raised and then dashed by so-called “important” announcements, this came as no surprise to me. Basically, CK said that it was too late to make major changes to either formula (MotoGp or WSBK) for 2013 but that major changes would be made for 2014 (which we already knew anyway).
As usual with such mealy-mouthed pronouncements, the devil was in the detail, especially this little tit-bit that slipped by almost unnoticed, it appears.
“Since Bridgepoint’s acquisition of Infront Sports and Media, we have been having several meetings with Infront Motorsports to try to adapt the technical rules of both championships. This was the main aim of Bridgepoint, trying to think of the two championships together, which can have a lot of benefits, and also many synergies.”
In other words, “We wanted to combine both championships into one but we found we couldn’t do it.”
So, it will be “steady as she goes” for 2013 but the changes start in 2014. A “spec” ECU for both categories; the power of the factories over the rules finally broken and the ultimate goal, the combination of both categories into one SUPER-category, just like Formula One.
For those who are interested in reading the whole of the speech as well as the questions that followed, please click on the link below.
While the attempt was made NOT to clarify, it didn’t work. We hear you loud and clear, and we don’t like what we hear.