Cycle News

INTERVIEW P72 JAVIER ALONSO stand where they have problems and where we can help them with those problems. Maybe the pricing policy that some people have is not correct, so we can help them with the synergies that they have. I was just with the president of the MagnyCours and he expects a fantastic crowd again, similar to last year, but maybe a little bit down. Some places in the world it is difficult to continue with motorsports and the crisis does not help. I think whenever we will be able to put this championship " possibility to win races. If you only have a top four, then you have people to follow those four. If you have 20, then you have people to follow those 20. This is the kind of thing we have to really work very close with the manufacturers to help us make them grow. Sales of Superbike bikes are really down now and the market in Europe is what it is. We are working to bring World Superbike to other countries in Asia, South America, so that we can create that willingness from the spectators to continue to fol- plement the kind of rules for the tires in the future. Evo looks like maybe putting 10 new bikes on the grid next year. What is your ideal grid size? One of the things we want is to have 24 bikes - maximum. The 24 regulars should be maximum, but the rest will be wild cards. Five or six wild cards at each round - I do not have a problem - but our ideal number is 24 permanent entries. We need to give value to the people who are investing in the championship. We already have PEOPLE DO NOT LIKE THIS BECAUSE IT CREATES A STRANGE FEELING FOR THEM BECAUSE THEY THINK, 'YES, THEY LOOK LIKE MY BIKE, BUT THIS IS NOT MY BIKE.' in the place it should be – and that means bikes derived from series. Everybody knows those bikes [World Superbikes] are prototypes. People do not like this because it creates a strange feeling for them because they think, "Yes, they look like my bike, but this is not my bike." We have to be able to work like ants to make all the small pieces that will make the big cake bigger. There are a lot of things we can do and we are doing them. What about other initiatives? For the people who are in the lower level of the classification; if you allow them to be closer to the top they also have sponsors and those sponsors will activate the " low the sport. There are possibilities for Asia travelling directly back from Australia and it would be good to cut travel costs that way. We hear there will be new ideas about tires, to use less and to have less different options. Is that true? We cannot change that from today to tomorrow and, of course, there are contracts to follow. We need to know the needs of Pirelli, but we are working with them and them with us because this is a situation that has to change to find a way to improve that situation. I do not like to have 30 different tires in a season - it is too much and it is expensive for the teams. We have to find a different way to im- – JAVIER ALONSO more requests than this. We are telling the people, "Please close your programs because when you have we will accept you." When we arrive at 24 entries, then the next one will be out. This is very important because people are investing in this championship, but they do not have a return. If someone else arrives in this championship and they have a place because there is an available place, then it is no good for the others. We should have a waiting list like for MotoGP, Moto2, Moto3. This will give value to the existing teams. We can discuss how long their grid place will be for. CN

• Cover