Interview: World Superbike Director Daniel Carrera
Gordon Ritchie | July 4, 2013
Daniel Carrera, the World Superbike Championship director, is the man who is charged with making the championship work to its very best – now and in the future.
He spoke with us at the sixth round of the championship to try and explain how Dorna views World Superbike racing now that the MotoGP rights owners have had a chance to look at their former rival series up close. The future was also under discussion, especially those aspects that affect the technical and logistical possibilities in the short term.
What are your first impressions of World Superbike now that you have been on the job for some time?
It is a big change for me because I have been 12 years in Dorna, but in the events department and working directly with Javier Alonso. I was the main contact for the circuits, for IRTA and the FIM to prepare each event. So now it is a big change for me, in another position on the top of the structure, on all areas, broadcasters, teams, sponsors.
The situation for the championship is in the deepest point, if we take into consideration the championship in the last five years. We know that we have a very good asset on our hands because the action on the racetrack is very nice but the reality, due to the economic situation of the world, is that the teams are struggling to finish the season. The broadcasters are not receiving the audience figures they were expecting, so it is a big task to put everything in the proper line to start growing.
We are in a low situation but we see the potential to grow… slowly. We think that this will take at least two or three years. Now we are focusing on the technical side. Why? Because the fight between MotoGP and Superbike meant that the technical costs for the teams has increased a lot because they were always trying to reach a performance gap to MotoGP bikes, which are prototypes.
We want to keep these championships separated because one is prototype class and one is a series-bike class – this is why we are focusing on the technical regulations. We can find a maximum price for the technical package that the manufacturers will supply to the teams and slowly, in three year’s time we can start reducing. We are trying to find a balance with the manufacturers because obviously they made investments to reach this performance and now you cannot cut this.