As reported by Motorsport.com on Sunday, the sporting management of the MotoGP World Championship presented separately to the six manufacturers involved in the championship a draft of measures to try to compensate for the enormous gaps that were created after the advent of the aerodynamic and altimetric devices introduced by Ducati .
Only the European manufacturers, KTM and Aprilia, were able to react, in part, to the technical offensive of the Bolognese company, while the Japanese technical departments remained stuck on the design of the motorcycles of the end of the last decade.
The crown jewel of the new licensing system would be the quantity of tires that each manufacturer can use for private testing during the year. They are currently entitled to 200 units per year. The number of units available to each rider would vary from 230 for Yamaha and Honda to 170 for Ducati, while KTM and Aprilia would find themselves in an intermediate position, depending on the number of points achieved in the manufacturers’ classification.
The number of engines and wild cards would also be assigned based on these points, leaving Ducati without invitations and increasing those of the Japanese manufacturers. Motorsport.com asked the opinion of some riders on the MotoGP grid on this important implementation, which KTM and Aprilia would oppose in principle, asking for more restrictions for Ducati. The latter, however, would be willing to accept Carlos Ezpeleta’s proposal.
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Enea Bastianini, Ducati Team
“When KTM and Aprilia needed concessions, and Honda didn’t, they gave them to them,” Joan Mir recalled on Sunday in Sepang. “I think it would be selfish if now that we need them, and Yamaha too, although they are in a different situation, they didn’t give them to us. We need a bit of help to get back to Ducati’s level. They wanted to put them on the track like this. so many Ducatis that we too need a little help”, added Mir.
The Majorcan believes that it is only a matter of time before HRC manages to obtain a competitive bike: “Honda has the information, the problem is that it has not yet found the key to making the bike work. We have to be patient and wait, even if the truth is that weekends like Sepang take away a bit of confidence”, he said after having another crash in the race.
For Fabio Quartararo, with a one-year contract with Yamaha and in difficulty with the M1, the opportunity must be seized: “I think it is important to have concessions. Ducati has eight bikes. In the end, it is also important for us to have a satellite team. If we have the concessions next year, we will have to use them very well, because I don’t think we will have them for a long time. We have to make the most of them, hoping to be able to reap the benefits.”
One of the great victims of the competitive collapse of the Japanese manufacturers is Marc Marquez, who made the decision to leave the official Honda garage to join the Gresini team, the fourth Ducati formation, a year before the expiry of his contract with Honda.
“The concessions are good, we knew for a few months that they would be there and I think they will be positive, because what a championship needs is maximum equality, as much as possible between the manufacturers,” said Márquez. “This benefits the level and the riders, because when there is competition between manufacturers, what you are looking for is the rider, not the bike. In the current situation, however, we focus more on the bike than on the rider, and We’ll see how it works in the future.”
#MotoGP #Marquez #consistent #moves #Ducati #applauds #concessions