Jerez: Carmelo-Ezpeleta-Kurve / MotoGP – SPEEDWEEK.COM

MotoGP returns to Europe two weeks after the Red Bull American Grand Prix in Texas. The Spanish doctor will be held in Jerez from April 26 to 28, followed by an official test for all three groups. As Jerez city council announced today, a stretch on the 4,423-metre track will be named after Dorna boss Carmelo Ezpeleta as part of the Spanish GP. This is turn 7, a fast left-hander between the right-hander “Dani Pedrosa” and the slowing left-hander “Jorge M. Aspar.”

A total of seven corners in Jerez are named after Spanish motorcycle world champions: Ángel Nieto, Sito Pons, Jorge M. Aspar, Álex Crivillé, Jorge Lorenzo and Antonio Sánchez Garrido, known as Peluqui, who died in an accident in the 1960s .Jerez also has a Senna chicane (not used in MotoGP), a Michelin and a Ferrari corner, as well as an opening corner named after the Expo of 1992. Only the 3rd and 4th curves are so far unnamed. (Incidentally, turn 3 was the corner where Marc Márquez accidentally broke his upper arm in 2020.)

In recent months, a lot of work has been done on the track to improve safety, as requested by the FIM. In particular, this affects the gravel beds in curves 1, 5, 6 and 10. The gravel bed in curve 7, the new Carmelo-Ezpeleta curve, had already been expanded in recent years. Also new for 2024 are two wells: one at the beginning of the Curva Peluqui (curve 10) and the other outside the Michelin curve (curve 2). The first one is already sold out, but there are still tickets available for the new Michelin palace: a weekend there costs 152 euros.

On 1 April it was announced that Liberty Media, who hold the rights to Formula 1, would now also take over 86 percent of Dorna (subject to approval by the competition authorities). Ezpeleta and his management team remain at the helm and hold the remaining 14 percent.