Qatar Special #1: Hervé Poncharal

Motopod, proudly supported by Road Skin, a UK label specializing in protective outerwear for motorcyclists. Modern biker clothing that you can wear all day long, and engineered to save your skin. For the road, for life, visit roadskin.co.uk Ok, Woody, I'm delighted, in fact it's an honor, quite frankly, to sit with a legend like you and have a chance of a couple of questions. So thank you, it's been a busy day. The race is just finished.

Let me ask you first of all, just generally with regards to 2023, it's been a really frustrating, disappointing season for Pol, but on the other hand, what a great season for Augusto. How do you kind of sum up the two sides of that coin? Yeah, you sum it up really well yourself, you know, clearly at the beginning of the year, Paul Espargaro was, before the season started, the whole winter was telling us, I want to be the captain, and Augusto was the rookie, so it was clear, you know, the mission for Pol was to try to be together with Brad Binder and Jack Miller, and Augusto to learn. And then unfortunately, he had that huge crash, big injury. I can tell you that he's still not 100% recovered.

He's recovered to ride a bike, but he's not the same. He still has difficulty for the last 10 laps of the race, especially when it's hot like Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia. And so that was a huge shock. We lost our captain before the championship even started, so Augusto became our man. And for a rookie it's not easy, but I have to say he did really well.

He did really well because the first, I think, I can't remember, but until Mizano, he scored points every single race. He was the only one with DJ Antonio to have done that. And that was quite an achievement, that was honestly better than we were expecting. And Augusto is not somebody who is creating polemics, who is a bling-bling person. No flashing, no.

Exactly. But he's a hard worker and the progression he's had this year has been really amazing. The grid is so competitive this year. And quite often he was in the top five fastest lap of the race. His handicap is the first two laps, the start, because he still has to learn quite a lot.

But the speed is there. And I was very happy when we all together with Gear Up Mobility decided to keep him for another year. So this was great. And on Paul's side, it's always disappointing to have to retire when you don't decide yourself. This is what he told me.

But deep inside himself, he's a father, he's got two beautiful daughters, he's got a beautiful wife, he has a beautiful house in Andorra. So life is sweet for him. It's not too bad. Not too bad. And also I think he likes now, it was a shock when he was told, but he likes the mission he will have in 2024.

He's going to be test rider, substitute rider, work for the company. And the guy from Gear Up Mobility gave him the insurance that they will keep him almost forever, you know, being an ambassador. A lot of things. So I think, you know, it's a soft landing, I would say, but it's good. Today was really, I mean, last night he was really sad because he crashed in his qualifying lap.

He's been in Q2 and that could have been, you know, I think what he wants now and what he's dreaming of, but there is only two races, is to finish on a good result on high note. But, you know, our lineup for 2024 is a dream lineup for me. And just returning to Augusto one second, he was solidly the second fastest KTM in the sprint race that just happened there. Yeah, yeah, and two laps to go, he did a 53.7, which was the lap time Martin and DJ Antono were doing when they were leading. So again, the speed he has, the thing we got to work on is the aggressiveness at the beginning of the race because he was ahead of Brad at the start when he let the clutch off.

But at the end of the lap, Brad was four or five positions ahead of him. And you don't learn that. I mean, you learn that, but it's not going like that, you know, and step by step. So we know what our weak points with Augusto and we're going to work on it. I'm also very glad to have Pedro Acosta next year for many reasons, but also because they've been working together last year in Moto2 and they like each other.

And they are going to work with each other quite well and help each other. Yeah, yeah. Trust me, I think the whole world that likes motorbike racing cannot wait to see Pedro Acosta. Yeah, but I think, you know, we are very honored. We are very proud.

We know how big the expectation from Pedro himself is, but we need to remember that he's 19 years old. He's a rookie. He will be a rookie. And, okay, if he's on the podium race three, I would be very, very happy. But sometimes I don't want the expectation to be too big because this is how you make mistakes.

So we will see. Talking to him, you see he's clever and he's got ambition. Yeah, yeah. Now, talking more generally, I know you've probably talked about this on other podcasts before, but from the Motopod listeners point of view, I think it was quite interesting. When Tech3 was the Yamaha satellite squad, I'm interested in the difference now because it doesn't feel as if Tech3 is now a satellite squad.

It almost feels as if it's like a semi-works team. Is that correct? I mean, what's the feeling there working with a company like Pira Group? I think, you know, when we... This is a question where, you know, I could take an hour to answer because I like it a lot because I've been working for this.

And I'm not looking to cast shade onto Yamaha. No, no, no. Look, we're sitting here at the hospital. We spent 20 beautiful years together. No, but at some stage, the manufacturers, it doesn't matter if they were from Japan or Europe, they were seeing how the satellite operations, like we have to do it for the championship to have a proper grid.

But it's a weight, you know, it's a cost. And we're not really interested. And we had a bike that was a year and a half or two years old. And all what they were worried was to give us everything to finish the race, but they didn't really care about the performance we are doing. And then other manufacturers came, especially from Europe, and understood the value of one or more than one satellite operation to receive data, to receive different input from different driving styles, to have also the possibility for the factory because we got less and less steam for economical reasons also.

Team, sorry, test. And if you've got eight riders like Ducati and you've got eight different items and you have one day test, each rider has got something to test. And at the end of the day, Gigi D'Alinia and his crew, they are analyzing and checking the feedback. So for sure, the progression is a lot bigger than when you have only two guys, even they are very good. But to use the feedback, you need to have the same year bike and the same spec bike.

Otherwise, this is... And the capacity to react, I suppose, as well. So I think the European manufacturers, maybe Ducati first, showed the interest to have satellite bikes with the same spec and with good riders on them. And then they more and more with the finger. And now, for example, each manufacturer here is giving an incredible support to the satellite operations.

Our riders are factory riders because Paul and Augusto are paid by the factory. Exactly same kind of contract than the one from Jack and Brad. Same thing is happening with Pramak. Same thing is happening with LCR, with Honda. So now all the manufacturers understood.

And I think Yamaha is now understanding that it was maybe a mistake to let their teams go. And now they are working on the plan to have a satellite operation. And when they will select the satellite team to be their support team, for sure they will give them the same year. The riders will be contracted by Yamaha in order to have a proper full bike involvement at the factory. It is very important.

Now if you want to compete, I'm not saying this is the only reason why Ducati is ahead, but this is part of the explanation. And I'm very, very happy because we've been pushing. I was very happy with Yamaha, but we are always pushing them to say, give me the same bike than the factory team. Give me more power, give me the latest evolution, give me a two-year deal. Help me to contract some riders that I can't pay.

And all what we've been pushing that were at this time almost impossible to dream of, this is now the situation. So it was worth pushing. Yeah, absolutely. Just talking about LCR, I was talking to Lucio Ciaccianello earlier on today and the question I asked him, well two things, first of all, and maybe with your Erta hat on, because you're president of Erta, I was asking him the question about whether the discussion point around a cost cap is starting to come up in MotoGP. They have it in Formula One of course, because obviously we have a huge schedule now.

So there are different, for the independent teams, we have a cost cap for the lease fee. So now each manufacturer cannot lease their bike higher than a certain price. So this has helped us and we have crash parts including also. The amount of money we are paying to the manufacturers, Lucio, Grazini, Pramac, all of them, we pay the same, which is less than we were paying before. So this is helping us a lot to run our business and to foresee and to plan our season.

Not the overall budget for running a team? Overall budget for running a team, I think it's pretty, we have a cost cap basically because the main cost that we didn't control before was the technical cost, but now it is inside this cost cap that I've told you and that is in the contract with the manufacturer together with Dorna and this is also in our contract, the teams we know and the manufacturers they know that they can't lease their product more than what is the cost cap. Regarding the manufacturers, compared to Formula One, we have a much simpler technical regulation. We cannot go too far in terms of development and this is what makes the investment in our championship not too high and this is why small in between brackets with all respect manufacturers like Aprelia, like when KTM joined at that time, could do it because the cost was not crazy. When you look at Formula One technology and a motorcycle, there is a huge difference and this is why we don't want to enter into any kind of hybrid technology, this is why all the devices we have, although we have quite a few devices on the bike, they are very simple and they are all manual, they need to be manual in order to keep the cost down.

So I think we are very far to face the problems of Formula One in terms of this cost because If you look at our bikes, they are beautiful but they are still quite in between brackets, simple. And we are working, you know, Don has got agreements from FIM five years by five years, so we are now in a five years agreement which is running from 2022 to 2026. So now we are working on the 2731 which is going to be different and the manufacturers already prepared the new technical regulation. It looks like there is a consensus, a unanimity on 850 instead of 1000cc, the engine capacity. Sorry, what cc?

850. 850? Yes. Because we are now, you know Brad Binder, we are 366.1 in the Gugelo and we know that now our bikes, all of them, are 300 plus of power, 448kg which is insane, especially with all the devices, you know now the acceleration is crazy. So we reach a certain limit and everybody is asking to slow down a bit.

So from 27 there will be, it looks like the base will be 850cc instead of 1000 and we will get rid of some devices we have on the bike. So again the target is not create crazy inflation because the world cannot feed inflation at the moment. We need to keep our feet on the ground and MotoGP philosophy has always been have high tech bikes but more important than anything than the technology is the show. And I love motorsport, all of them. And I have a big respect and I follow F1, you know, so this is nothing to do like, I mean I'm not going to say anything wrong about F1 but Verstappen start on pole or from the pit is going to win.

And the races are not as exciting, I don't want to say they are boring but not as exciting as this one and what makes this exciting is also the fact that everybody is so close. And now we are saying Honda and Yamaha are a bit lost, but look where Fabio and Marc, they were there, they were in the heat of the battle. So this is very close and we need to keep that. So the worst thing would be to give more freedom to the manufacturers and then the richest manufacturers is going to hire the best engineer, he's going to do more testing and then he's going to be ahead. And he's going to, you don't want gap.

We need everybody on the same level and let's go racing, let's go fighting and have the kind of show we have tonight. This is what we want and this is what we will try to keep. I know you can't talk in any specific detail, but are the new regulations also going to be designed in such a way that it might encourage another manufacturer to try and enter the sport? We have that for many years already, this is called a concession. You know when Suzuki came back after having left, when KTM joined, when Aprilia came back, they had concessions, they had more engines, more tyres, more testers, more fuel.

So we always give concessions, advantages to the new manufacturers in order for them to catch the level of the guys who have been here for years. And it's been incredibly successful. Exactly, look at KTM, look at Aprilia, look at Suzuki, they've been, you know they were in the last three races where they were here. So, no no, we will keep the concession, but we want to keep our feet on the ground. Remember when the fuel cap is?

Yes. We... Look at KTM. Fuck, I'm tired, I lose what I'm saying. No but, I mean, the target is, at the moment we've got five manufacturers.

We were six, one left, it was a bit difficult to understand why, they couldn't really explain why, but anyway, it's their own decision and... But any new manufacturers who would like to join, they are more than welcome. And we understand that we don't want them to face a wall that is too high to climb and them to say, no, we would like to come but it's too high, too difficult or too expensive. So, now we, I think, you know, more than anything, we need to have a great choice. And a great choice is battle.

And when you see that, okay, Moto2 was decided last week, Moto3 is on, will be decided at the last round normally, the next of the Japanese, and same MotoGP, which is fantastic. And the battles are unbelievable, you know, you see somebody who is almost nobody and who, at the moment of the table ride, is fighting for victory, which is Didier Antonio. Yeah, now this is a great end. We are at the moment with the possibility 50-50 to see a satellite operation winning the championship. And this is because we've been fighting, as I told you before, and a few years ago it was impossible to imagine.

Last question, and again, it's not a negative question, it's one I ask Lucio. Be negative. Just in terms of running the team and looking after all of your personnel, because it's like a family, we're at 22 races next year. 44 starts. Are we at the limit of what is achievable with the teams as per the structure that they have?

You know, the rights belong to the federation, okay, FIM. FIM is giving their rights, five years per five years, to a promoter, which is Dorna. There is a tender and Dorna has run the tender for many, many years. Once Dorna got the right, they entered in a talk to have an agreement with the manufacturers and the teams, which are making the grid, because their product, Dorna, is the grid. And the grid is bike, which is manufacturer, and teams, which is mechanic, technician, and rider.

And on the contract Dorna offered us in 2021, we were discussing the contract from 2022, he said the championship can go up to 22 races. All of the manufacturer signs and all the team signs, I said, you know, as they're done. And we agreed. And the last two years, you see manufacturers and teams that say it's too much, too much, too much, but we signed. So we know we will not go more because by contract, but we gave the possibility to the promoter to go up to 22.

And this is what we have. So the difference is when we signed, it was 22 events. And from last year, each event is to start a sprint and a GP. But you know, at the end of the day, it's always the same. What do we want?

You know, when we had the seven, eight rounds, and that was called the world championship only in Europe, we were dreaming to go outside of Europe. We are dreaming to have more races on beautiful circuit. Now we have more races. Now we go all around the world except Africa at the moment. And this is what we are dreaming of.

But now that we are where we were dreaming of 40 years ago or 30 years ago, we think, wow, it was a good old dance before. So in other words, what you're saying is careful what you wish for. Exactly. But also, you know, if we used to be the continental circus, a bunch of hippie, they were on the road, you know, with a van and a caravan behind, we were all stopping together by a lake, a guitar, the sausage and a fire. But this is almost true.

That was fantastic. But nothing was paid. We had a little bit of money from the promoter when we were there. We are sharing and the world has changed. Now, I have 50 employees.

I need to pay them all year long. We need to pay the traveling. We need to give them decent rooms, decent food, have a rental car, fly, you know. So you need to have the money. But you need to give the promoter the possibility to give us some money, which means you need to give them the possibility to go to the organizers of Grand Prix, to the TV channels, to, you know, the possibility to make business.

And we are sharing the profit that they are doing. Yeah, I suppose it's a delicate balance. This is always the same in the life. And, you know, at the end of the day, my life has been crazy, you know, for 40 years. I have the luck to work with my daughter, because she's my press officer.

But I can understand, you know, a lot of people have a family and it's too much. And the wife is complaining, rightly. I'm not, you know, the kids are missing, etc., etc. But, you know, you got some people in business that are traveling more. You got people in the army.

You got people in the, I don't know, you know, that... What about the guy who go in the, you know, in the station, in the space, you know? A year or two years. So it depends what you want to do. You know, if you want to be home every night, why?

Why not? Great. But go to work in a bank, at the post office or in the railway, you know, why not? But if you like this business, you must like being together. You must like traveling.

And again, it's always a question of balance. I suppose my question was with the, you know, the amazing scale of this sport that we have now, and, you know, 22 races, okay, as agreed, as a maximum, just, you know, from the personal side, is the team coping, you know, from a human point of view? It's difficult. And I can tell you, I've lost three of my staff next year. They will not be here because one of them is why he's pregnant for the second time.

And she said, you know, the other one has a new girl, first going to get married. And I understand. That's normal, I suppose. People come and go. I respect, you know, I respect, but, you know, we need to understand that.

And also, you know, win competition with us. And for example, last year, Kazakhstan was canceled and we had almost six weeks break. And you know, the people who check the interest, you need to keep on going. Because if you had such a long break like this, people lose interest. And then forget about it.

And this is a modern world, you know. Not me, I haven't built that world, but win competition with so many other sports, so many other activities that if you fall asleep, people who are complaining, oh, the sprint is more work, is more adrenaline, is more pressure, is more potential crashes. Yeah, but you should keep the same format. They were the same people that were complaining when we switched from two stroke to four stroke. They were saying, oh, you killed MotoGP, MotoGP is two stroke.

No, it's not true, you boost. And you need to adapt. And clearly, we could see that since we have the sprint, the Saturday attendance is a lot higher than last year everywhere. Very full grandstands out there today. The TV figures are a lot better than last year on Saturday.

So, you know, we don't want to talk only about spectator business, but this is part of the game because if we have no spectator, we have no TV, we have no sponsors. Finished. Finished? So, you know, again, it's a compromise, it's a balance. We care about our people.

We want to give them the best possible life. You cannot tell them you will do the MotoGP World Championship without traveling. This would be a lie. Last question, hopefully a little bit more like heart of one because you used to race yourself back in the day. Yes.

It's not so easy to find a biography about your racing career. No, no, no, no, because, you know, I have been, okay, I went, I was completely mad about bike and I was driving bike when I was a teenager. I was fast compared to my friends. And one day I said to my parents, I'm going to race. And then they told me never because my mother thought she's going to race, she's going to die.

And it was a huge fight. And I thought, okay, I've got to do something. And my mother tried to convince me, don't race, don't race. If you want to win the motorcycle business, you need to learn English. Maybe you can become a journalist.

And because I had so much respect and admiration for my mom, my father, I said, and then I went to live in London. And I lived for a year and a half in London with my 400 triple two stroke Kawasaki. I enjoyed a lot. I was going to see all the races around London, Bransach, Mallory Park, Hilton Park, all these races. And I was mad.

But that helped me to learn English quite well. And I came back and I found a little job to find some money. I left my parents' house and I had my own flat and I started to race. And I raced at the local level and I won a racing school. I won my first championship.

I was on the next international championship, we are calling, and I was leading that championship. And I was supported by Honda at that time. And the big boss of Honda came to see me at the end of the season and said to me, I need you. And I thought as a factory, as a support rider. And he offered me a job to be his assistant.

And I was shocked. I didn't want to do it because I thought I was going to be world champion. But then I was struggling, you know, no money, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I was having a tough life. And if you want to grow in the racing, you need to have at least a little bit of money.

You need to pay a mechanic to pay the traveling. And I was really bad. So I've been thinking a lot and I thought maybe if I go to be his assistant, which was a good position he was offering me, maybe I can bounce back as a racer. I do it for a year and I don't tell him. That was a bit my strategy.

Then I went there. So I stopped racing for a year. I was still doing a few races. And I fell in love with the job. And it gave me much more responsibility.

In 1982, I was traveling to Japan and at that time it was a real adventure. And it was like dream country because motorcycle was Japan at that time only. And slowly I forgot about being a racer because I was more and more enjoying because I was in the heart of the... It was RSC before being called HRC. And I was there when they built HRC, created HRC.

I was with Freddy Spencer, all these guys. And then there was the beginning a bit... A few years later, you know, I did the Dakar, I did the motocross. So I did a lot of things and I was still racing a little bit. I was more into the management and I enjoyed a lot.

Maybe I could have done an average career. I don't know, I don't want to be pretentious. But Lucio did more than me. But we're doing the same now. And he spent more time on the racetrack than me.

But at some stage in your life, you have crosswords. And you need to decide, go left or right. I don't know, maybe if I would have kept on racing, I would have been missing the opportunity I had and I would be now working in the bank. Or maybe I would have been world champion. Who knows?

The reason for asking about your racing time was because my signature sign-off question I like to ask certain people, such as yourself, is if you could, let's say, either ride the bike yourself or see your hero ride a bike. Any bike from history, race bike, on any track from history, what would be your dream combination? Either you're riding it or you're the person you supported the most. So what would be my favorite bike to ride? On which circuit?

Doesn't have to be a current circuit. It could be one that doesn't exist anymore. I'll tell you what Lucho told me. His answer was the NSR 500 at Mugello, of course. There he is giving us a lot of thoughtlessness.

Now it's a very difficult question. Very, very, very difficult question. Maybe if I bump into you in the paddock tomorrow, you've had overnight to think, I'll ask you again tomorrow. And that's my one question for tomorrow to you. Let's do that.

And think about another one that we'll ask too. Another question? Yes, tomorrow. I can always ask questions. Thank you, sir.

There are so many bikes, you know. Yeah, it's difficult. But the thing is, when I started to do what I was telling you I did in the early ages, I've been testing bikes and I was doing the test with the riders because I was... Now, the older you get, the more you understand that the level of these machines, if you go on it, it's like... Another world.

Yeah, you're going to be... I remember because many years ago, we were doing a journalist test at the end of the year. So after the last Grand Prix, the journalists that were thinking they were fast, they were given the possibility and they looked... They looked so bad. They looked so slow.

Oh, yeah. And I thought, my God, maybe I'm going to look like that. So I'm never going to do it because I will look completely ridiculous. Did you ever ride, well, maybe a 500 or one of the Grand Prix bikes? I rode a 500cc Yamaha, yes.

In Le Mans, I remember. I rode the Goldwins Yamaha from Christian Saron, Patrick Ponce at that time. Oh, yeah. Marc Fontaine also. I rode a lot.

I rode the factory on the Rondeur at that time. I rode the Paris Dakar bike, the NXR that was winning so many races, I don't know. I rode a lot of factory motocross bikes, but I never rode a MotoGP. Okay. Would you ride one if you had the opportunity to take...

Honestly, I would like to do two, three laps, but just to ride, you get the feeling to say, fuck, I rode a MotoGP bike. But I'm sure I wouldn't enjoy myself because I'm not at the level anymore. It's too much. So if I would have to choose to ride a bike here, I would take a Moto2. Because this is more something that you can master.

I don't want to say I would master it because I'm not at the level of Fedor Akostan, but it's more human. The other one is not human. Like a spaceship. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You...

Even top riders, you know, when they have their winter break, they go on it and say, fuck. Fuck. Yeah. Wow, Hervé, you're an absolute legend. I will think about the bike, but I don't know.

I don't know. It's a tough question. Yes. Because, you know, everybody thinks we are going to say MotoGP, but I think I will have much more fun to be on a... Now, not 30 years ago, on a 600 Super Sport because this is flex, you know, this is a production bike.

You are... We with the level, we are. And I could be much more competitive than on a MotoGP bike where... Yeah. But if you say, I dream to go on an R6, people will say, hey, fruitcake.

He's lying, this guy. I'm going to think about it, I will tell you. Yeah, okay. All right. Well, for now, Hervé, thank you very much because it's quite late in the evening.

My pleasure. Yeah, I'm dead. I'm dead, I'm dead. Yeah. And my daughter is waiting for me.

Yes. Thank you very much and we'll maybe see you tomorrow. I'm sorry to keep you waiting. It's always worth waiting for you. Thank you very much.

We'll see you tomorrow. Okay. Cheers. So... No, I've been thinking...

Hervé, yeah, we're back. So we've had a night to think about my question. I'm a little bit... My brain is a bit clearer. But the answer is not now.

It's if I would be fit enough to ride a racing machine, which I'm not anymore. I mean, I'm fit to do a lot, but you know, all our life we've been dreaming of better machine, more power, better handling, better brake, better aero, blah, blah, blah. And what we have in 2023 is so far the ultimate development of what we've been doing, pushing. And I think if you love racing, if you love performance, if you love... Yeah, performance in every department, I would take the best current bike, which is...

Okay. I would take Peco's bike. Okay. On which circuit? I think I would do...

I would like Mugello because you got to be everything in Mugello. Yeah. The speed is amazing. This is the fastest ever speed that has been done with MotoGP is this year with Brad Binder, 366.1. So this is a track where you go fast, where you got hard braking, you got fast corners.

So yeah, in my dream... That's the answer. I would like to be on the GP23, a red GP23 in Mugello. I mean, red or purple. Yeah.

A GP23. It's a great answer and an interesting one that you take a current track and a modern bike. So nobody else has answered that way before. No? No, no, no.

No, no. Because I think I was going to say Portimao because Portimao is a crazy track. The first time I went there, I said, you cannot ride the MotoGP back there. Also, when I heard that Formula One was there, I said, you cannot ride Formula One. And then the guy in MotoGP and Formula One, I took to him and he told me, wow, we had fun on that track.

But I think Mugello is... You have more everything. And then as I told you, Lucio came up with Mugello as well. If there was one... I don't want to be nostalgic.

So I want to have the best of the best today. And if we go to 850, you know, maybe this bike will be like the Group B in Rally. You know, the old Formula One with the engine with 1200 horsepower, you know, something like that, crazy. More and more, we don't get that anymore. Yeah, because we all...

Maybe in 2027, we will be... Because we don't want to lose Mugello and some of his classics. But even Portimao, I mean, we're seeing the accident that Paul had this year. Yeah, but it was not only... Accident, caliper everywhere.

If there is one modern track that could be used for the modern day MotoGP, which track would you like to see come back onto the calendar if you had a choice? A track that was in the MotoGP, Chambers G-Band. Or one that would be suitable for MotoGP, say from a homologation point of view, if there would be one track... One which is not on the current calendar. Yes.

For example, I would like to see maybe Istanbul Park back on... Oh, I was talking to Toprak yesterday. I would love to go to Istanbul. But it's quite a modern track. It's not...

It was fantastic. And I told to Canon of Foglu yesterday, I said, when do we go back? But apparently Erdogan is not a big fan of motorsport, see what he said. So Istanbul, for sure, it was an amazing circuit. What else?

Pailami? No, it's too dangerous. It's too dangerous. I don't know. What have we lost?

I suppose I was going to say Imola, but that's even more dangerous probably. Imola, I loved it. But there is no way we can... It's not what we're going to do. I would love to go there.

But it's... You remember what happened to the last course and even the current WSPK riders saying, no, we can't go there. Okay, so maybe the answer then is that we have the best combination of tracks on the calendar. No, but currently, clearly Istanbul is a track we miss. And a country we miss also.

Well, given the emergence of the Turkish riding talent. Yeah, we... I was missing Erdogan, but we have it back. I love Erdogan also. No, I don't see so many more.

I think we already have 22. Yeah, it's enough. And Puerto Rico would be interesting, I would like. But at the moment, it's not. You will never have the great air for safety.

What's your opinion about Manicor? I mean, it's very isolated geographically. Yeah, it's very isolated, but Burelam is isolated. You know, quite a few are not isolated. But the layout itself is okay.

It's acceptable when you see, but it's nothing magic. I always enjoy watching the World Superbike races from there. I don't know why. Yeah, it's not too bad. But Le Mans was before seen as a very not exciting track.

But every year we have more and more people. And every year we have great races there. Yeah, incredible crowd this year. Wow, 300, huh? We had, yeah, I think 280 on the three days and 120 on race day, which is the record.

If only we could have something similar at Silverstone. Yes, but you have it for Formula One. So it's a question of the marketing, it's a question of the guy runs it, the NACA people. No, but another track. I can't ask you to think about this one overnight and talk to you tomorrow because we're not here.

No, no, no, no, no, but where did we go? That's where we don't go anymore. My memory has gone blank. Suzuka, Suzuka. Oh, of course.

But same story. Since Cadeau lost his life there, but it's a beautiful circuit. You know, it was one of the circuits with Suzuka, Philipp Island that were always the first for the riders. But Suzuka would be beautiful to go back there. And even some GP riders have done the eight hours, or when they're testing, they say, wow, what a great circuit.

But maybe one day, who knows if they can improve some circuit. It's in the end of Honda. At the moment, they are happy like that, Formula One, Suzuka, MotoGP, MotoGP. But if they would like to do something, we could go back. I'm sure nobody would be complaining.

No. Thanks, Obe. Good luck today. Thank you. All the best.

It was a good day. Cheers. Thank you.