Valentino Rossi: Carlo Pernat tough on Ezpeleta

Manager on the drop in spectators: “They failed to handle the post Valentino Rossi, wrong everything at Mugello”

MotoGp manager Carlo Pernat in an interview with Corsedimoto flunked Dorna for how it handled MotoGp post Valentino rossi: “The pandemic kind of ruined everything, lack of spectators, certainly lost a lot of money, so the Bridgepoint fund put pressure on Dorna. At that point Dorna made gut decisions rather than reasoning about it. For example, the gut decision of these sprint races, without talking about it with the riders or even with the Houses is incomprehensible. With all the related problems, because if there are sprint races there must also be rider bonuses.”

Things got worse with Valentino Rossi’s farewell: “Dorna did not know how to handle the post-Valentino Rossi era. After such an era something had to be done, at least understand what the problem was, instead it was underestimated. At Mugello, for example, where there was a massacre of tickets, they named ‘MotoGP Legend’ Valentino. But you only do that for 20 minutes in the press room? You were supposed to invite all Rossi’s fans, let them take a few laps with the bike, have a parade with the riders…. you have to handle it another way.”

“Once the era of Valentino is over you need characters and you need to build them,” Pernat continued. “It’s a good thing there was Ducati with Pecco Bagnaia who brought some enthusiasm, the media moved, motorcycles are talked about more. But it’s not the way to manage….”