The Clinica Mobile leaves the MotoGP paddock. Carmelo Ezpeleta defends his decision. The memory of Valentino Rossi.
The MotoGP paddock changes its face and characters from next year. There will no longer be a security officer Franco Uncini, who has been working alongside Loris Capirossi for some time, replaced by Tomé Alfonso Ezpeleta, who will be the new “FIM Safety Officer”. Another piece of Italian spirit disappears with the non-renewal of the contract of the Clinica Mobile, which for many decades has offered health care services (and not just to pilots).
A choice that several athletes have not approved, but the CEO of Dorna Carmelo Ezpeleta went straight on his way, putting aside all sentimentality and nostalgia in the name of an optimization that he expects to ensure through the services of the ‘Quiron prevention Health Center‘ directed by Dr. Angel Charte, head of intensive care internal medicine at the Dexeus university hospital (Barcelona) and long-time head of the MotoGP medical service.
Valentino Rossi thanks Dr. Costa
The Clinica Mobile was founded by Dr. Claudio Costa in the late ’70s who managed it directly until 2014, before passing the reins to Dr Michele Zasa. Boss Ezpeleta defends his decision: “The agreement we have reached with Quironprevencion is great news for MotoGP. I am very satisfied because it is a clear and important step forward for the future. Not only will it improve the medical services available to our riders, but for the entire paddock, especially considering that this partnership has been established with a world leader in the sector“.
Among the drivers most sorry for the farewell of the Clinica Mobile there is Aleix EspargaròMotoGP veteran, who arrived in the paddock at the age of 15: “I was a kid and they treated us very well“, recalls the Aprilia standard bearer. “I have always felt at home with them. I can only thank them and we will see how it will be in the future“.
Also Valentino Rossi, present in Valencia in the last Grand Prix of 2022, reserves a great memory of the structure founded by Doctor Costa. In particular when in Imola, in 1982, the doctors of Mobile Clinic they saved his father Graziano’s life after an accident on the track. “I lived through Dr. Costa’s roaring years, when you got back on track even if you were all broken. But the greatest favor he did me – concluded the champion from Tavullia – is to still have a father“.
