It was a season that revolved around pride for a title won and regret for another one lost. Team Fantic's 2025 season in Moto2 ended in this way: team World Champions, but out of the fight for the Riders' title in the final stages of the season. Aron Canet, among the favorites on the eve, bickered with the Kalex 2025 chassis and failed to make the same leap in quality as his rivals Moreira and Gonzalez. On the other hand, a wise gamble turned out to be Barry Baltus, unexpectedly third placed finisher at the end of the Championship. However, it was a positive balance for such a young outfit, present in MotoGP for just three years and already an absolute benchmark in the category. It's a sign that change and innovation are okay, but also that experience counts as well.
Bedon has been a man of the paddock for 30 years: beginning in 1996 with LCR colours, then Italjet and in 2006 the adventure with Clarence Seedorf's team in 125. In 2015 he arrived in Moto3 as director of the Snipers team, in 2018, together with patron Mirko Cecchini, he rehabilitates Fenati after the Misano incident with Manzi, and in 2022 he took over at the helm of Fantic Racing's Moto2 program. He is someone who, in short, has been through at least three eras - pre, during and post-Rossi - and who now looks with active curiosity at the impending transformation process that MotoGP is going through. The entry of Liberty Media opens a delicate transition phase for MotoGP, but certainly also for Moto2 and Moto3. How to make the smaller classes an involved and integral part of the growth that lies ahead? That is the big question. Seeking dialogue between all parties, Bedon stressed the need to keep in mind the economic and cultural differences that divide motorcycle racing from motor racing.
Stefano responded to our call after the first two rings; he is in the car and the cue he provides for us is perfect:
"I'm going to see about buying a new truck because ours is old and in the renovated paddock that Liberty Media wants, it's better to have a slightly more updated truck."
Let's get right into the topic then.
"I suppose at present Liberty Media is still a bit undecided on what to do. MotoGP's target audience is very different from F1's, and you have to be careful. Making MotoGP an extremely exclusive environment, as has been done in F1, may risk taking us off target."
Should we try and go for a "MotoGP method" that does not mechanically replicate F1?
"The point, in my opinion, is this: motorcycles are a luxury product for those who cannot afford other luxuries. Let me explain, even those who belong to a lower-middle class, if they want to satisfy a whim, they buy a motorcycle, and that's a small luxury that can make them happy. Here, that creates a bit of a discrepancy with the world of F1. A less exclusive and more inclusive paddock, as it has been over the years, would make our world more prosperous and attractive."
There was also talk in September that from next year the paddock of the minor classes would be separated from the MotoGP paddock.
"The division of the paddock for us would be disastrous. Right now we sell sponsors business-to-business services in the paddock because we can stay with MotoGP. If they isolate us it's a problem. With the big budgets we have to find to do a season, we will be forced to give more space to paying riders. F2 lives because there are millionaire drivers who come and pay for everything, but it's hard to find strong riders with a briefcase here. We have to figure out if we want to focus more on top performance or more on communication."
But specifically what are the Moto2 and Moto3 teams asking for help with?
"What the whole system would need, including MotoGP, is a hand to grow and get in touch with more international entities that can support us in terms of sponsorship. It needs to become stronger at transmitting our "signal."
In the past, perhaps, certain critical issues had a milder importance. Not so much effort was made.
"Moto2 and Moto3 feel slightly penalized. I remember that in the years when there was Valentino Rossi, Biaggi, Harada, Capirossi, then Perugini, Rolfo, 250 was followed more than 500, and it was also seen in the spaces granted by the press, newspapers, and televisions. Exposure made it possible to build characters, like Biaggi, who never won a title in MotoGP, or like Rossi, who started winning and becoming known as early as 125 with his memorable skits. Now, however, riders are in a hurry to get into MotoGP right away because Moto2 and Moto3 are side classes that have been weakened too much."
I understand that for you too much centralization on MotoGP could in the long run generate problems for MotoGP itself.
"Today if MotoGP runs into a dull year, maybe there isn't the big story or the character that attracts visibility, so the possibility of focussing attention on the other classes is lost. I find this more of a weakness. It's easier to pull a character out of a pool of 70 riders than out of a pool of 20. If MotoGP doesn't work, the cinema ends."
If Stefano Bedon could redesign Moto2 and Moto3 from a blank sheet of paper today, what would he draw?
"If we want to increase the target audience we have to diversify the passports. Dorna/Liberty are already doing that, but to do that you have to have strong entry categories, otherwise how do you do it? Then one thing I appreciated in the past was the difference in IRTA prize monies between competitive and less competitive teams: it valued the most deserving while now the prize monies are the same for everyone. But we spend a lot more than others to stay in front with both riders."
And from a technical point of view?
"I really appreciated what they did with the future Moto3. The Yamaha one-make category will give the possibility to draw from a pool of riders already ready for Moto2, because the gap in weight, power and displacement will become much smaller than it is now. Also, without taking anything away from Kalex and Boscoscuro, we would have more appeal if we were also linked to well-known brands in the market."
Besides the economic plan we started with, is there anything else that separates motorcycle racing riders from car drivers in soul and culture?
"On the track, racers are like hunters with a spear in their hand and they have to hunt for victory, absolutely, because otherwise they don't eat. In my opinion this is something that is still very much there in motorcycle riders. There is not much of it there in race car drivers. The motorcycle rider stays closer to the primitive stage," and that's good, mind you.