MotoGP – Carmelo Ezpeleta breaks the silence

Bruno Gomes

April 9, 2018

Carmelo Ezpeleta, Dorna CEO, agrees with all the decisions taken by Race Direction and the Stewards about the Argentina GP

Almost 24 hours after what was a dramatic Argentinian MotoGP race, Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta finally spoke about all the incidents that happened this past Suanday at Termas de Rio Hondo.

Ezpeleta commented on the starting procedures that started what was a chaotic grid formation procedure, with only Jack Miller staying on the grid while everyone else went back to the pit to change tires

“At the moment we studied the situation of the grid, just Miller was using the slick tires. The rest of the riders had the right to go to the pitlane and take the exit from there, after changing the bike set-up for dry conditions. We made the decision, shared by the majority of the teams, to start the way we did. That decision was taken for safety reasons, and it was the right decision”.

About what happened in the race, Carmelo Ezpeleta “washes his hands” (and Dorna also) from the decisions to penalize Marc Marquez, and says that everything about this subject is in the hands of the Stewards which aren’t appointed by Dorna

“The situation was very difficult due to weather conditions, there was a dry line on the asphalt. Then what happened is what everyone saw on TV. Since two years ago Dorna is not involved in the nomination of stewards, they are people nominated by the FIM and by IRTA. They took the decision, which I will obviously not judge. In the next GP Safety Commission with the riders, in Austin, we will discuss this situation and for sure we will take some experience from that”, Ezpeleta told to MotoGP.com website.