As we geared up for Round 11 of the 2023 campaign at the Catalan Grand Prix, Spanish news outlet Mundo Deportivo sat down with Dorna Sports' Chief Commercial Officer, Dan Rossomondo, to discuss the latest ongoings in our sport.
- WATCH: MUNDO DEPORTIVO CHAT MotoGP™ & MORE WITH DAN ROSSOMONDO
"I think Spain and Italy, it’s the beating heart of MotoGP™. It’s great to be back here, then we’re in Misano next weekend. A record crowd in Jerez, we saw records in Le Mans, records at the Sachsenring which is fantastic as well, so we’ve had the attendance come back from where it was, even more so than pre-pandemic levels which is great for us," said Rossomondo, as the paddock now gets set for the final race in Europe before the highly anticipated Asian leg of the 2023 tour begins.
"I think one of the reasons we can point it at is the introduction of the Sprint, the Sprint has given the circuits a full weekend of programming now where they can point to it, come on Friday where practices mean something, come on Saturday for both qualifying and then an actual World Championship point event, and then come on Sunday for the main show. So it’s been a really great connection."
Briefly touching upon MotoGP™'s pre-Catalan GP meeting with the Americas's Cup - the world-renowned sailing competition set to take place in Barcelona in 2024 - which Rossomondo describes as a "collaboration of two technological marvels", the talk turns to the 2023 season and what we can expect for the rest of the year.
"I think the greatest thing we have going for us as a sport is the uncertainty. I don’t know of a lot of sports where the guy in the lead can be up and then one mistake and they’ve got no points. It’s almost as if you’re up 7-0 and you let one goal in and you lose the game, it just doesn’t happen in other sports.
"So the uncertainty of our racing is fantastic. We’ve had 11 or 12 guys on the podium this year which is a fantastic year, so you’ll see a lot of new faces I think. Everyone is trying to figure out where they are for next year, how they’re setting up. We’re going to India for the first time which is fantastic, I think there’s a huge population in Asia that loves the sport, so we’re exposing the sport to them, and then we bring it back to Spain which like I said is the beating heart for the season finale."
Click the link above to watch the Mundo Deportivo's full interview.