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MotoGP Staff |
MotoGP
Clinica Mobile confirmed on Friday that it would no longer operate as part of the MotoGP World Championship paddock from 2023, after a partnership of almost five decades.
The decision, made by championship promoter Dorna to favor Spanish healthcare provider Quironsalud, seems to have taken the Italian-based outfit by surprise with the official statement asking ‘How can we be ready to leave what we love and we are passionate about?’
The onsite general practice, set up in the seventies by Dr. Claudio Marcello Costa and now led by Medical Director Michele Zasa, houses a large 30-strong team of both doctors and physiotherapists on hand to assist both riders and paddock staff across the demanding calendar. While the more acute and urgent trauma care is carried out by the MotoGP medical team under Dr. Angel Charte and already sponsored by Quironsalud.
“From next year, unfortunately, we won’t be present with the current structure in the MotoGP World Championship,” Zasa confirmed. “Of course this saddens me, but at the same time it gives me the opportunity to reflect upon all the good things we have done in the last years, when I took over the Clinica Mobile after Dr. Costa’s retirement.
“We have been through difficult years for many reasons, not least the logistics problems which became more complicated during the two years of Covid. Despite this, looking back I think I did a good job, carrying on Dr. Costa’s teachings and the fundamental principle of being constantly on the riders’ side, and at the same time trying to give a modern mark to this institution created almost 50 years ago.
“With regret, we have acknowledged the will of the organizer to follow a different road in a period of transformation.
“We thank all the people who supported us in these years, first of all Dorna, IRTA and all the teams that, in these hours, showed us their support and their disappointment.
“Personally, I have to thank all the people who helped me to lead this adventure, first of all my partner Guido Dalla Rosa Prati, as well as all the medical and non-medical staff by my side in these 9 years. There have been so many important people, people who gave a lot to Clinica Mobile before even thinking what Clinica Mobile could do for them. These people have been fundamental for our history, they are those silent heroes you know nothing about but who gave a precious contribution; my sincere gratitude goes to all of them. I thank the riders who expressed their sorrow for the situation and who trusted us in these years. I think we repaid this trust with the results we got together.
“Clinica Mobile stays alive, although we’ll work with different modalities and in other contexts. Who knows whether paths can cross again in the future.”
The set-up is expected to remain in the FIM Superbike World Championship.
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