Best known as the manager for the likes of Andrea Dovizioso and Alvaro Bautista, Simone Battistella is the guest on the latest episode of The Race MotoGP Podcast.
Host Toby Moody welcomes Battistella in this edition of the Toby Talks To series, hearing from the Italian on how putting together a MotoGP rider contract is different to other sports – and why Japanese manufacturers differ from European ones in this regard.
Battistella also talks about Marquez’s current situation and exit clauses, and why he thinks a 2024 sabbatical would make sense for the six-time premier-class champion.
He also talks us through the progression of Dovizioso’s MotoGP deals, including the famous three-bike factory Honda line-up of 2011 and how Dovizioso and Ducati reached the end of the road in 2019 (as well as why Bautista made the dubious-in-hindsight switch from Ducati to Honda in World Superbike around that same time).
Finally, Battistella outlines his concern over the danger and injury rates in current MotoGP and his vision for how series promoter Dorna should tackle this.
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