Pecco Bagnaia calls for greater unity between MotoGP riders and Dorna

Double MotoGP world champion Pecco Bagnaia has called for greater unity between riders and series promoter Dorna Sports “to continue growing”.

Unlike in Formula 1, MotoGP riders do not have an official union, though there has been a bigger push in recent seasons to bring competitors together on various topics.

Following the serious incident involving Noah Dettwiler and Jose Antonio Rueda prior to the Moto3 race in Malaysia, several MotoGP riders spoke out about how the championship proceeded with the rest of the programme.

Pecco Bagnaia has been the most vocal, with the Ducati rider unhappy that the Moto3 race went ahead afterwards.

He was even more angry when it emerged both riders had to be treated at the scene for cardiac arrests, despite the official television graphic stating that both were conscious.

The subject of an official riders' union has been brought up on numerous occasions, with Bagnaia asked about it again during the Valencia Grand Prix.

“Honestly, it’s difficult,” he said.

“It’s always difficult to have a clear idea from the outside.

“Everybody can have a point of view. You’re a journalist, so you have always a different point of view.

“But it’s difficult, I think it’s difficult to make decisions in these kinds of moments, and they are trying to manage the things in the best way for the show and for the riders.

“Not every time both things are in the same direction, so we can continue speaking about it and we [did] from many years ago.

“But things are like this. I think that, more than ever, we need to be united with Dorna to let this championship rise again because, right now, it’s not going down, but everything is changing so we need to be very united to continue growing.”

While the riders don’t have an official union in MotoGP, there are ones for the independent teams (IRTA) and the manufacturers (MSMA).