Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/103448
VOL. 48 ISSUE 44 DECEMBER 13, 2011 P107 It was the perfect chance to grab a quiet time with FIM President Vito Ippolito (son of formerly well-known Venemotos team founder Andrea, highly successful with World Champion Johnny Cecotto). The personable Venezuelan revealed that in spite of the FIM's support for the controversial proposal, he is personally not yet convinced it's the right answer. But he was confident that a newly developed spirit of co-operation will produce the answer that will best suit all involved, including the factories. But will diplomacy and optimism be enough? Here is what he said. MotoGP is at an interesting time. What is your feeling about the ECU/rev-limit proposal? My opinion... this is still in discussion. I cannot say if it is good or not. Personally, I don't think it necessary to have this change. But in any case we are still continuing talking with all the stakeholders. But the FIM was joint proposer, with Dorna. Yes, yes. But we are discussing. We put this on the table because we understand the requirements, and we understand that people are concerned about this fact. But I would like to wait until we have more discussions. Time is short, with the decision required by May, and it seems the factories are not in favor of the proposal. Can you see MotoGP in the future without factory machines? Now it is difficult to imagine not to have the factories directly in our GPs. But I can say this: everything is possible. I think in the end all the factories are interested to be involved with this sport. I can- at the FIM t thinks… GH KES ER 106-108 Ippolito Interview.indd 107 not see a future without that. If such technical restrictions come in, along with production-based CRT bikes, does this mean that GP racing's role in research and development is over? The problem is, the economic situation is not good enough to persuade the industry to increase investment. Two years ago the industry invested in different classes in other championships. Now with this situation they are more selective. We have to be more creative to find the best solution for the classes. As you see in MotoGP we have Moto2: A very specific category that is something new in our whole championship history. Moto3 is not revolutionary, but is also something new. We will have to continue to think to have better solutions for the championships. We have to be more creative. It seems impossible for the factories to curb their spending as long as they are competing with one another. Do you mean you have to help them, by imposing technical rules? Yes. From five years ago, the FIM started asking everybody in road racing to reduce costs. Factories, teams, promoters and so on. Because in the FIM we have to consider the future. We were saying this before the financial crisis at the end of 2008. We were seeing some troubles in the economic field four years ago. But the factories still couldn't stop spending. The factories want to help. They understand the problems. We had some meetings in the last part of this year with European manufacturers and the Japanese industry. The FIM is working now in a way that we never worked before. We have now an agenda with clear objectives and clear issues, not only in sport but also in other matters, road safety, the environment and alternative energies. Now we are working really close with the industry. And we are building a new kind of structure between the FIM and the industry. This is completely real – maybe we don't have the results just now, but just one or two years you will see the result of this. 12/9/11 2:59 PM