Carmelo Ezpeleta, CEO of MotoGP organizers Dorna Sports, has confirmed that the group is open to selling the series off to new owners should it receive a strong enough offer.
Dorna has done its level best in recent years to try and grow the sport’s global reach and appeal, though it has struggled to make the same impact as Liberty Media did with Formula 1.
It first tried to copy F1’s ultra-successful Drive To Survive Netflix series, which gave fans a fascinating insight behind the scenes of the drivers and teams that take part, with its Unlimited show on Amazon Prime. The attempt failed to capture the public’s imagination though, and it was scrapped after just one season.
It also followed F1 in introducing sprint races, though unlike the four-wheel racing series it featured a half-distance outing at every round in 2023 rather than just selected events. It is also trying to breach the lucrative American market, a task helped by the recent announcement that NASCAR giant Trackhouse Racing would take over RNF Racing’s Aprilia satellite deal for 2024.
Rumors have reportedly been doing the rounds in recent days that Ezpeleta could be exploring a sale of the series in the future, ruminations the Spaniard confirmed to Italian publication La Repubblica.
“I confirm the rumors of a sale, every day I receive two or three phone calls from credit institutions asking me if it is true that we are for sale,” said Ezpeleta.
“But, the banks do not want to buy, they only offer themselves as intermediaries of the operation. I can only say that we are ready. We stayed with our first investors from 1998 to 2006: eight years.”
“Currently about 20 percent of Dorna is owned by its workers, and I have the majority; 39 percent are from Bridgepoint; 38 percent of a Canadian public fund. Anything can happen, at any time, but it hasn’t happened yet.
“They certainly like the product and the formula works with the sprints.”
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