THE MotoGP awards ceremony is the culmination of the Grand Prix motorcycle racing calendar, and until now you had to either be one of the protagonists or a team member to be in with a shout of going.
That is set to change in 2023, as the awards ceremony at the end of this year’s championship will be welcoming fans to the event for the very first time. The news comes after MotoGP and events company Never Say Never (NSN) sign a three-year deal which will see other fan-centric events taking place at race weekends throughout the season.
The move aligns MotoGP with F1, which for some time now has hosted bands and DJs on a race weekend once the on-track action has finished. Before that takes place, though, the first event to come from the partnership will be the 2023 awards ceremony, held in Valencia after the final round of the championship.
NSN has a track record of putting on glitzy events like this, having previously helped to host the OMG La Liga Music Experience, although it’s still not clear how the 2023 awards ceremony will take shape - with fans actually attending the event in person of an immersive, virtual experience enjoyed from their own home.
Speaking about the partnership, Carlos Ezpeleta, Chief Sporting Officer, Dorna Sports said:
"We’re super happy to be able to announce this new agreement with NSN and reveal another of these new, fan-focused events. A fan’s experience of a Grand Prix doesn’t pause when the bikes go back into pitlane, and we’ve already added some awesome extra experiences at the track – things like the Hero Walk, the Sprint podium, track invasions, the rider parade – to really maximise their experience. But there’s always more we can offer and we’re always thinking about how we can level it up.”
