After the first three championship rounds, the superiority of the red is clear. Now, however, a decision must be made on the mechanism of “concessions”, with the dedicated Commission grappling with a difficult assessment that could penalize the dominating team
– assen (holland)
After the first three rounds, with Alvaro Bautista on a Ducati triumphant in eight out of nine races held, the 2023 SBK world championship seems already “closed” with the second world champion mortgaged by the reigning world champion pairing. Then, you know, never say never in motorcycling. However, after the coat at Phillip Island and the encore at Assen (so Ba-bau doubles his victories on the Dutch circuit, from three to six) the numbers speak for themselves: Bautista is on the run in the standings with 174 points followed by 56 lengths by the world champion Sbk 2018 Toprak Razgatlioglu (118) and by Jonathan Rea, only 73 points, 101 points behind the leader, fifth in the standings preceded by the second official Yamaha of Andrea Locatelli (104) and also by the best privateer, Axel Bassani ( 77).
the situation
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Behind, the void. And also Michael Rinaldi, the same Ducati as the classification leader, but sixth, with only 54 points. Honda and BMW are also in a black crisis, even in these first three races under “super-concessions”, therefore taking advantage of a significant advantage by being able to update their engines with new “development” components (in any case approved before the start of the 2023 championship ) and also replace elements of the frame. Numbers say more than words about the state of Honda (Xavi Vierge, 9th, 49 points and Lecuona 13th, 33) and of BMW with the best, Scott Redding beyond the top ten, twelfth, with only 34 points. In return, this is the constructors’ classification: Ducati 179 points, Yamaha 134, Kawasaki 87, Honda 59, BMW 46.
superiority
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What budget? Ducati, 400 victories to date in the Sbk world championship, has shown up to now that it has an extra gear, moreover led by the best Bautista ever, despite Rinaldi’s difficulties. The Italian driver has been expected to redeem himself since Barcelona, failing which his future with the Bolognese manufacturer becomes full of unknowns. The clear and lasting superiority on the track of the first Ducati fueled even more tensions and controversies in the Assen paddock. Superiority due, according to the criticisms in the pits of the opposing manufacturers, to the regulations: favorable and more so for the bikes of the Borgo Panigale manufacturer and punitive for those of the opposing manufacturers. In the crosshairs is the concession system, the new technical rules inherited from the MotoGP which allow advantages to teams in performance difficulties from which the other manufacturers are instead excluded. The wheel turns and therefore the rules of concessions apply (should apply) always and for everyone, in rotation, according to the levels of competitiveness achieved.
engine revolutions
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We won’t go back here to the details of the SBK concessions which from 2018 concern in particular the development of the engine and the speed limits and which have gradually become MotoGP-style rules. Assen was the third round of the season, so according to the regulations, after this race, the FIM can intervene on the “engine revs” issue, i.e. reduce the revs of the more performing engines (in this case obviously the reference is to Ducati) also giving the manufacturers more difficult (primarily Kawasaki) the possibility of accessing the “concessions”, the “concession parts”, i.e. the possibility of intervening on the engine, modifying the shaft, springs, valves, pinion even electronics and forks, with the aim of recovering the gap with those who currently dominate. We are based on four races (the Superpole Race is excluded) in dry conditions and already here, the count does not include Race 1 at Phillip Island, which is wet. The first five classified in each race must be given a score: 5-4-3-2-1. The house which is 20 points behind the first can take advantage of the concessions. Before Race 1 at Assen, the particular official classification was as follows: Ducati 27 points, Yamaha 15, Honda 3, BMW and Kawasaki 0. A classification which, after Bautista’s new triumph, distanced the various manufacturers even further, with Ducati more than double the points of the first pursuing Brand. Of these manufacturers at the bottom of the standings, Kawasaki in particular could today have access to concessions.
hot issue
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It will be like this? All that remains is to wait. Delicate and heated issues with controversy which, as mentioned, flared up over the Assen weekend where the Superbike Commission met, as well as to clarify the procedures on the line-up in the event of rain, to return to the regulatory changes necessary to access the parts with concessions. In fact it was an (exploratory?) meeting in which the manufacturers, in order to guarantee equality in terms of technique and competitive balance in the performance of the bikes, “advised” to reduce the essential requirements to go from 10 to 5 as far as the World Sbk is concerned. On the details, for now, it is not known. However, the issue, to say the least hot, is being examined by the Superbike Commission which will respond shortly. The knot to untie, only apparently seems simple. In fact, Ducati is in the dock. Bautista’s Panigale proved to be, and by far, the fastest bike on the track, practically an uncatchable hare. However, to reduce or reduce the revs, in this case the engine revs of Alvaro’s Red, the regulation considers the performance level of all the Ducatis today in the Wsbk, not just Alvaro’s world championship. Who makes the decision? Dorna and the FIM will decide whether to use the cleaver on the engine revs of the Ferrari (the cuts are made on a scale of 250 revs at a time) after having taken note of what the often mentioned “algorithmic calculation” managed by an external company will say. Since the dawn of racing, in motorcycling the technical limit for manufacturers was substantially given by the engine capacity, for the rest everyone was looking for maximum power and maximum speed with the only goal of winning, in the sprint or with a lap advantage was the same. Today, in MotoGP and also in WSBK, everything is different: the technical rules are dictated not only by safety, but also by the search to place all the bikes on the same level of competitiveness for hard-fought races, as a function of show-business.
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