Denning adds to cost cutting call
Added on Thursday, January 29th, 2009 by Carole Nash Editor
Cost-cuts get the support of Suzuki.
Suzuki boss Paul Denning has added his support to MotoGP’s cost-cutting drive, claiming that the sport needs to make “fundamental, sweeping changes” in an attempt to make the sport more financially viable.
Following the decision by Kawasaki to end racing in 2009, the FIM, MotoGP teams and Dorna have expressed a desire to reduce the costs of competing in premier class racing in order to survive the current economic downturn.
Minor cost-cutting measures are already in place for 2009, with reductions on the amount of testing and practice mileage already agreed by teams earlier this year although a raft of more drastic measures are also in the pipeline.
The drive to reduce costs has been generally approved by the teams; with Suzuki boss Denning adding his views to the issue on the official MotoGP website.
“There is a generic agreement that cutting costs is a fundamental requirement,” said Denning.
“It is not a wish, it is a fundamental requirement to safeguard the future of the championship.
“Some of the short term measures that have already been suggested are not going to be very effective, but they may be a minor help.
“The key point is that with the manufacturers, Dorna, IRTA, looking at things from a promoter´s perspective, an organisational perspective, a private team perspective and so on, all factors have to be considered in terms of priority and that big changes are needed, rather than small tweaks.
“I think there need to be some fairly fundamental, sweeping changes, to take a decent percentage out of the costs, in order to make the decision making process easier for manufacturers and teams, for participation and making it more attractive to provide further bikes and expand the championship in the future. That has to be the ultimate target.”
MotoGP is currently down to 17 entrants and four manufacturers after the withdrawal of Kawasaki, although talks are ongoing to keep Japanese manufacturer’s ex-works bikes on the grid with a private team.
