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Out of the dark, into the light: MotoGP baptizes Losail 2 and emerges from uncertainty

It was impossible to delay things any further: Carmelo Ezpeleta realized the situation and this version of the calendar is more reliable. Access for a limited number of guests, sponsors and press, without which the survival of the teams is still at risk, to be resolved shortly

Out of the dark, into the light: MotoGP baptizes Losail 2 and emerges from uncertainty

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As was to be expected and as we had anticipated some time ago, the MotoGP calendar has undergone a major change. As we wrote last November 6, in fact, the one proposed by Carmelo Ezpeleta was simply a letter of intent. Not even a feasibility study. The Dorna boss had been aware since then that the possibility of taking the world championship to Argentina and America did not exist even in his wildest dreams.

But it was necessary to give, more than a hope, a sign that MotoGP was ‘bad-ass’ and ready to face the flames of hell, just to get its engines roaring again. Although - and perhaps the message was addressed to them - it was only the sponsors who were convinced. In short, that first calendar simply represented a flash of light from a lighthouse in the night indicating for sailors the route to take towards the landing place and the port…

We immediately said that the solution was to hold two consecutive Grands Prix in Losail. We are not geniuses. This is what Ezpeleta would have said right away, if he could, but he couldn't. We also immediately suggested, but of course there was really no need at all, that if Losail 2 were to be the perfect replacement for Rio Hondo, Portimao would be the same for Austin.

It was damn seriously easy to deal with a damn serious situation…

Careful however because it's not over yet. The situation is still fluid and surrounded by numerous question marks, of which perhaps the most important is the presence of the public; access for spectators, in what number and with what precautions, cannot be taken for granted and is something unknown to anyone except god.

Attention however because it would be wrong to put yourself in his hands, whether they are those of the one and only God or those of one of the many gods that crowd the Pantheon of motorcycling. The pandemic situation, in fact, is no longer the same as it was in 2020. We are no longer in retreat caught off guard by an enemy we didn't even suspect existed…

Ours, today, can no longer even be trench warfare. We cannot simply wait; we must move forward. And Dorna and Carmelo are aware of this, fully aware, so much so that the teams - not just the MotoGP ones - have already received information that a limited number of guests will be admitted. Maybe 5 per team, less for the smaller engine categories. They are even talking about resuscitating the Ducati promo rides on the 'two-seater' Desmosedici with which Randy Mamola and Franco Battaini try to scare the living daylights out of top VIPs for an adrenaline-fueled lap to let them experience the thrill of high speed at full lean...

This design, which for the moment is still on its easel and just sketched out with charcoal, is missing the first brushstroke of colour that will give it life and – moving metaphorically from the artistic to the military sphere – that will allow MotoGP to transition from the defence stage, from every man for himself, to the regrouping of the ranks and going on the attack: our presence. The presence of the press. The possibility that, in the ways and means that have so far allowed the world championship to move forward - the infamous 'bubble' - the media will also be given access to the sport that is second only to football and F1 and which we have helped to create. Because while it is true and undeniable that television has been the turbo for most sports, it is also undeniable that before there was the article, the analysis, the identification of the characters, made by the printed media that today is facing its normal evolutionary process on the web.

Without the millions of interviews, articles, direct social media allowed by the new technologies, not even the TV alone could survive. Without this continuous lifeblood that feeds the fans there would be nothing to talk about. The rushing river would be a brook…

Ezpeleta knows this. As a brave general, he must now give the order to advance to recover positions*. Only in this way will MotoGP become part of our life again, helping life itself to resume its normal course.

* Superbike is already ahead in this: while in 2020 it was always possible to follow it, this week's tests were open to the press, who also had access to the pitlane.

 

 

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