The man behind the MotoGP Chinese Grand Prix is pessimistic about the future of the sport on the mainland because of poor support from potential sponsors.
Yu Zhifei, general manager of Shanghai International Circuit Management and Development (SICMD), said he felt frustrated over the widespread apathy toward motorbike racing from the Chinese business community, particularly the domestic motorcycle manufacturers.
'We have so many home-grown motorcycle brands but it seems that most of them don't want to be involved in the grand prix at all, not to mention enterprises from other business sectors,' said Yu, whose SICMD is also appointed to promote the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix.
Only two out of the 100-plus Chinese motorcycle manufacturers have a presence of sorts in this weekend's MotoGP extravaganza though the two are small-sized outfits which run a handful of one-off wild-card entries in 250cc and 125cc competitions.
Ironically, both the China Zongshen Team and QJ team of China (backed by the Qian Jiang brand) defy their own names and equip their riders with foreign-made machines, namely Aprilia and Benelli.
'We didn't manage to bring on board even a single major sponsor by ourselves . . . all the names that appeared on the track-side signs are global partners of Dorna Sports [the championship's overall commercial rights holder],' said Yu.