{"id":1213,"date":"2026-08-25T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/?p=1213"},"modified":"2026-08-25T09:21:55","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T12:21:55","slug":"motogp-recognizes-significant-contribution-and-promotes-sporting-director-to-deputy-ceo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/motogp\/motogp-recognizes-significant-contribution-and-promotes-sporting-director-to-deputy-ceo\/","title":{"rendered":"MotoGP recognizes \u201csignificant contribution\u201d and promotes Sporting Director to Deputy CEO"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Key takeaways<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Major executive promotion:<\/strong> <strong>Carlos Ezpeleta has been appointed Deputy CEO of MotoGP<\/strong>, transitioning from his previous role as Sporting Director.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Liberty Media backs Ezpeleta family:<\/strong> The strategic move reinforces the leadership of <strong>Carmelo and Carlos Ezpeleta<\/strong> following Liberty Media&#8217;s acquisition of commercial rights holder Dorna.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Focus on global expansion:<\/strong> Liberty Media CEO Derek Chang highlighted Ezpeleta&#8217;s deep industry knowledge as crucial for expanding the championship&#8217;s international reach and commercial footprint.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>MotoGP<\/strong> announced on Tuesday (25) a significant change to its executive hierarchy. <strong>Carlos Ezpeleta<\/strong>, who previously served as the championship&#8217;s Sporting Director, has been appointed <strong>Deputy Chief Executive Officer<\/strong>. He will work directly alongside his father, <strong>Carmelo Ezpeleta<\/strong>, who remains the primary chief executive of the series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The leadership restructuring comes as <strong>Liberty Media<\/strong> strengthens its executive framework following its acquisition of a majority stake in <strong>Dorna Sports<\/strong>, the commercial rights holder of the FIM World Championship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Liberty Media CEO <strong>Derek Chang<\/strong> praised the appointment, citing Ezpeleta&#8217;s extensive background in both the sporting and commercial avenues of motorcycle racing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;MotoGP has built a solid global foundation, and <strong>we see a massive opportunity to take the sport to the next level<\/strong>,&#8221; Chang said. &#8220;<strong>Carlos has the experience, vision, and deep understanding of MotoGP to help lead this transformation<\/strong>, and we are excited to support him as he steps into this new role,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"801\" src=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MotoGP-2026-Argentina-Buenos-Aires-Carmelo-Ezpeleta-Carlos-Ezpeleta-1200x801.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1001071500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MotoGP-2026-Argentina-Buenos-Aires-Carmelo-Ezpeleta-Carlos-Ezpeleta-1200x801.jpeg 1200w, https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MotoGP-2026-Argentina-Buenos-Aires-Carmelo-Ezpeleta-Carlos-Ezpeleta-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MotoGP-2026-Argentina-Buenos-Aires-Carmelo-Ezpeleta-Carlos-Ezpeleta-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MotoGP-2026-Argentina-Buenos-Aires-Carmelo-Ezpeleta-Carlos-Ezpeleta-150x100.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MotoGP-2026-Argentina-Buenos-Aires-Carmelo-Ezpeleta-Carlos-Ezpeleta.jpeg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Carmelo and Carlos Ezpeleta will lead MotoGP together under Liberty Media (Photo: MotoGP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In an official press release, the organization highlighted that Carlos Ezpeleta has played a central role in the championship for over a decade, helping expand its international footprint, enhance commercial offerings, strengthen strategic partnerships, and grow the global fanbase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Carmelo Ezpeleta<\/strong>, MotoGP CEO, commended his son&#8217;s long-standing impact on the sport&#8217;s evolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;<strong>Carlos has played a fundamental role in MotoGP&#8217;s growth over many years<\/strong>,&#8221; Carmelo emphasized. &#8220;His experience spans all areas of our business, and <strong>his leadership, vision, and passion for the sport make him the right person<\/strong> to help guide MotoGP into its next chapter,&#8221; he assured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Expressing gratitude for the promotion, <strong>Carlos Ezpeleta<\/strong> set his sights on accelerating the series&#8217; global growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;<strong>It is a great honor to assume this role at such an exciting time for MotoGP<\/strong>,&#8221; Carlos stated. &#8220;With incredible fans and partners around the world, <strong>I am eager to work alongside Liberty Media and the entire MotoGP community to reach new audiences<\/strong>, create new opportunities, and unlock the full potential of the sport,&#8221; he concluded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The management update arrives as the paddock arrives in Alca\u00f1iz, where <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/motogp\/jorge-martin-celebrates-aragon-debut-with-aprilia\/&amp;authuser=3\">Jorge Mart\u00edn celebrates his Aragon debut with Aprilia<\/a> while <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/motogp\/bezzecchi-reveals-physical-setback-after-silverstone-racing-exertion\/&amp;authuser=3\">Marco Bezzecchi downplays a physical setback<\/a> following his podiums at Silverstone. Additionally, Tech3 team principal <strong>G\u00fcnther Steiner<\/strong> confirmed <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/motogp\/maverick-vinales-continues-recovery-misses-tech3-seat-at-aragon-and-targets-misano-return\/\">Pol Espargar\u00f3 will continue replacing the injured Maverick Vi\u00f1ales<\/a> at MotorLand, as veteran <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/motogp\/ktm-takes-advantage-of-motogp-break-to-service-engines-after-deal-with-rivals\/\">Jack Miller sees his MotoGP departure nearing after 12 seasons<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">MotoGP returns to action from <strong>August 28\u201330 for the Aragon Grand Prix<\/strong>, the 13th round of the 2026 season. <strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/\">GRANDE PR\u00caMIO<\/a><\/strong> provides complete live coverage of all track action. Follow all updates on our <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/news\/\">news page<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">MotoGP 2026: Drivers&#8217; World Championship Standings (Top 5)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><thead><tr><td><strong>Pos<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Driver<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Team<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Bike<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Points<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>1<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Jorge Mart\u00edn<\/strong><\/td><td>Aprilia Racing<\/td><td>Aprilia RS-GP<\/td><td><strong>240<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>2<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Marco Bezzecchi<\/strong><\/td><td>Aprilia Racing<\/td><td>Aprilia RS-GP<\/td><td><strong>209<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>3<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Ai Ogura<\/strong><\/td><td>Trackhouse Racing Team<\/td><td>Aprilia RS-GP<\/td><td><strong>203<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>4<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Marc M\u00e1rquez<\/strong><\/td><td>Ducati Lenovo Team<\/td><td>Ducati Desmosedici<\/td><td><strong>200<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>5<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Fabio Di Giannantonio<\/strong><\/td><td>Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team<\/td><td>Ducati Desmosedici<\/td><td><strong>199<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">MotoGP Aragon GP: Schedule (Global Time Zones)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>US (ET)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Free Practice 1 (FP1):<\/strong> Friday, August 28 \u2013 04:45<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Practice (PR):<\/strong> Friday, August 28 \u2013 09:00<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Qualifying (Q1\/Q2):<\/strong> Saturday, August 29 \u2013 04:50 \/ 05:15<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Sprint Race:<\/strong> Saturday, August 29 \u2013 09:00<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Grand Prix Race:<\/strong> Sunday, August 30 \u2013 08:00<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>London (UK &#8211; BST \/ UTC+1)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Free Practice 1 (FP1):<\/strong> Friday, August 28 \u2013 09:45<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Practice (PR):<\/strong> Friday, August 28 \u2013 14:00<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Qualifying (Q1\/Q2):<\/strong> Saturday, August 29 \u2013 09:50 \/ 10:15<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Sprint Race:<\/strong> Saturday, August 29 \u2013 14:00<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Grand Prix Race:<\/strong> Sunday, August 30 \u2013 13:00<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Spain (CEST \/ UTC+2)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Free Practice 1 (FP1):<\/strong> Friday, August 28 \u2013 10:45<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Practice (PR):<\/strong> Friday, August 28 \u2013 15:00<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Qualifying (Q1\/Q2):<\/strong> Saturday, August 29 \u2013 10:50 \/ 11:15<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Sprint Race:<\/strong> Saturday, August 29 \u2013 15:00<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Grand Prix Race:<\/strong> Sunday, August 30 \u2013 14:00<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Thailand (ICT \/ UTC+7)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Free Practice 1 (FP1):<\/strong> Friday, August 28 \u2013 15:45<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Practice (PR):<\/strong> Friday, August 28 \u2013 20:00<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Qualifying (Q1\/Q2):<\/strong> Saturday, August 29 \u2013 15:50 \/ 16:15<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Sprint Race:<\/strong> Saturday, August 29 \u2013 20:00<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Grand Prix Race:<\/strong> Sunday, August 30 \u2013 19:00<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Indonesia (WIB \/ UTC+7)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Free Practice 1 (FP1):<\/strong> Friday, August 28 \u2013 15:45<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Practice (PR):<\/strong> Friday, August 28 \u2013 20:00<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Qualifying (Q1\/Q2):<\/strong> Saturday, August 29 \u2013 15:50 \/ 16:15<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Sprint Race:<\/strong> Saturday, August 29 \u2013 20:00<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Grand Prix Race:<\/strong> Sunday, August 30 \u2013 19:00<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Frequently asked questions (FAQ)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>1. What new role will Carlos Ezpeleta assume in MotoGP?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Carlos Ezpeleta has been promoted from Sporting Director to Deputy Chief Executive Officer (Deputy CEO) of MotoGP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>2. Who owns the commercial rights to MotoGP in 2026?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Liberty Media holds the majority stake in Dorna Sports, the commercial rights holder for the FIM MotoGP World Championship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>3. Will Carmelo Ezpeleta remain as CEO of MotoGP?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yes. Carmelo Ezpeleta continues in his role as CEO, with Carlos Ezpeleta assisting him as Deputy CEO.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MotoGP announced that Carlos Ezpeleta will step into the role of Deputy Chief Executive Officer, working alongside his father Carmelo to lead the championship under Liberty Media.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1001070007,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"42wp_featured_image_caption":"Carmelo and Carlos Ezpeleta will lead MotoGP together under Liberty Media","42wp_featured_image_credits":"MotoGP Brasil","42wp_featured_video":"","42wp_featured_image_hidden":false,"42wp_authors_list":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[282,283],"42wp_author":[36],"class_list":["post-1213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-motogp","tag-carlos-ezpeleta","tag-carmelo-ezpeleta","42wp_author-juliana-tesser"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1213"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1213\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1215,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1213\/revisions\/1215"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1001070007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1213"},{"taxonomy":"42wp_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/42wp_author?post=1213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}