Aksland: MotoGP deserves more support

Sponsorship and costs have become increasingly hot topics this season, with the Roberts squad's participation in doubt until the eve of the season-opener due to a lack of finance, and Ilmor withdrawing from the series after failing to find sufficient backing.

The teams met to discuss the problems last week, and Aksland hopes that they can find a way to attract more corporate support to MotoGP.

"This is a sport that is hugely popular worldwide and for some reason it's not attracting the big blue chip companies to it," Aksland land told the BBC.

"The purpose of the workshop was for everybody to get around and discuss ideas that could bring those companies in.

"Clearly the sport deserves that they should be here."

Team Roberts are now on a more secure footing after making a number of sponsorship announcements in the past month.

"We're chipping away little by little," said Aksland.