Former world champion Max Biaggi has caused a stir with a controversial post on his Facebook page. In a long text, Biaggi blames the actions of the Ducati managers at the time. He accuses Ducati of cheating the regulations in the 2008 WSBK season by only letting one rider go at full power and slowing down the others.
This bypassed adjustments to the balance of performance between the two- and four-cylinder bikes, Biaggi says. We confronted a former Ducati insider about these allegations. He describes the statements as “bullshit”.
In his text, Biaggi refers to the 2008 WSBK season, in which he competed with Ruben Xaus for the Sterilgarda GoEleven team on a Ducati 1098R. It was the first season in which two-cylinder engines were allowed to have a displacement of 1,200 cc. The four-cylinder bikes drove with a maximum of 1,000 ccm. It was Biaggi’s second season in Superbikes.
“The bike I rode in the first test for 2008 was a winner. Compared to the year before, the bike had 200cc more displacement, but many parts had to correspond to the series,” explains Biaggi in his Facebook text .
Max Biaggi accuses Ducati of reducing power
At the start of the season Biaggi scored a lot of points with a second and a third place and put himself in position for the world title. But in the second event of the season at Phillip Island, Biaggi broke his left hand. After the comeback, according to the Roman, nothing was the same as before.
“After 21 days in a cast, I celebrated my comeback in Valencia. Already in the first free practice I realized that something was wrong with the bike,” writes Biaggi. “At the beginning of the second free practice, I realized the same problem and came into the pits. I reported to my crew chief that I was ending practice.”
“I was overtaken by riders I had never seen before. It was absurd. My chief technician then admitted that the Ducati Corse boss, Filippo Preziosi, had ordered a special mapping to be applied that would produce 15 to 18 hp had less. It was done because only one driver should win,” said Biaggi.
Why should Ducati slow down their own drivers artificially?
According to Biaggi, Ducati wanted to use this strategy to avoid adjusting the balance of performance. “Otherwise you would have punished the two-cylinder. But if only one driver wins, then it is attributed to the skill of the driver and not to the technical advantage of the two-cylinder over the four-cylinder,” was the theory of the Ducati pilot at the time.
“The displacement advantage was too great. You had to punish the customer bikes. If the podium had only consisted of riders on two-cylinder bikes, then you would have reduced the performance of the Ducati 1098,” says Biaggi, adding: “The speed was adjusted depending on the status.”
“I then signed a contract with Ducati that included a promotion to the factory team the following year. You know how it ended and thank God it worked out that way because it allowed me to return to my home at Aprilia,” writes Biaggi, who runs the WSBK season 2008 in seventh place in the World Championship with 238 points, while brand colleague Troy Bayliss confidently secured his third World Championship title with the factory Ducati with 460 points and ended his career.
Exclusive: What Ducati insider Charly Putz says about Max Biaggi’s allegations
But what about Biaggi’s theory? We spoke exclusively to Charly Putz, who at the time was responsible for building the Superbike and MotoGP engines in Ducati’s racing department, but who no longer works for Ducati.
“That’s absolute nonsense! It had exactly the same engine as Bayliss. There was no difference,” Putz comments on Biaggi’s statements and remembers: “Max came to me in the engine department ten times and asked about the difference between Bayliss’ engine and his. I told him the engines were identical but he didn’t believe me. I had every one of the engines in my hands at the time and I could guarantee him they were all identical.”
“There are different types of racing drivers. Some are the realists and others are like princesses on the pea. And Max is one of them,” says Putz.
“It was always someone else’s fault for him. He’s a driver who never admitted that it was his fault,” said the Ducati employee at the time. “The material was absolutely identical. It really annoyed me when I had to read that. The speed was absolutely identical.”
According to Putz, Biaggi’s statements do not fit Ducati’s philosophy at all: “Ducati is one of the few manufacturers that also gives private drivers such good material that they can be really successful with. You can currently see that with Bastianini in the MotoGP.”
“Ducati will certainly not like the fact that the Bastianini has burned the Bagnaia three times. But Ducati wants to develop further and has the best system. Data is exchanged against each other,” says Putz behind his former employer and emphasizes: “It’s easy Isn’t it true that the speed was limited at the time.”