A compromise is being sought on the rules for next season to limit Ducati’s technical advantage, especially over the Japanese manufacturers, by ‘playing’ on the number of tires and tests available: the roots of the issue and Dorna’s position
– Milan
In MotoGP there is not only the fight on the track for the 2023 World Championship, but also a close comparison on technical regulations of 2024 between the Dorna and the houses of the queen class. There is only one question: how to try to limit the super power of the dominating Ducati of the last two seasons and help its rivals, in particular Honda And Yamahatheir technical gap by giving them some concessions . The objective is to prevent the races and championship from being a Ducati monopoly, with consequent loss of appeal and also risk of forfeit for the losing manufacturers. It’s not a question of goat’s wool. Other times, in past decades, it has happened, because when a single manufacturer has dominated (sometimes even with just one rider) there have always been negative repercussions on the entire world championship.
the opinion of former champions
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The discussion also concerns former champions. As Giacomo Agostini: “This MotoGP is dominated today by too many wings, too much power and too much electronics, too many wings: it’s just danger, not show. For MotoGP to be increasingly interesting, the bike must be increasingly driven by the rider.” He is on the same level as the 15-time world champion Casey Stoner: “This MotoGP needs to be changed: we need bikes without wings, holeshot and anti-wheelie control and with traction control reduced to a minimum. Costs must then fall and standards must last at least a decade. The rider hardly has any problems controlling these bikes: he accelerates with a bike close to 300 HP and nothing happens. It’s frustrating. We have more electronics than F1. I would eliminate everything.” That’s why, the current discussion on technical regulations between Dorna and MotoGP manufacturers must have as its objective, not to reduce the advantage that Ducati has gained on the field, but to rethink MotoGP more generally.
the work duchies and concessions
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The rules, today, cannot be changed during the race just to slow down a manufacturer and help the Japanese: it is certainly not Ducati’s fault if its bikes and its riders are dominating the championship because Borgo Panigale is reaping the fruits of years of hard work and right choices on the technical and competitive front. The same goes for Ktm and Aprilia, still competitive and ahead of the Japanese. It is a fact, however, that victory has more flavor and more weight if Honda and Yamaha I am capable of competing for victory. As is known, Ducati, and before that also Ktm, Aprilia and Suzuki, have exploited the concession system in vogue since 2016 to limit their gap and regain competitiveness through various methods, including tests, tires and engines. The concessions are not miraculous, but they have had and continue to have an impact on the development of the bikes, influencing performance and results.
tires available and days of testing
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Today Honda and Yamaha, also due to limitations in development starting with testing, are unable to recover the technical deficit with their rival bikes, starting with the European manufacturers, Ducati in the lead. So the Dorna wants to change the regulations to allow the two Japanese manufacturers in difficulty to recover the handicap, with regulations different from the current ones which would not allow Honda and Yamaha to benefit from any concessions. The risk of a “pause for reflection” by the two Japanese manufacturers is not far-fetched and Dorna knows well that a possible farewell from Honda and Yamaha, as Suzuki did at the end of 2022, would be a knockout blow for MotoGP. Over the Sepang weekend, Dorna presented the manufacturers with a draft of concessions for 2024, with the MSMA, the manufacturers’ association, struggling to find an agreement that satisfies everyone. The basis of the proposal is to change the number of tires available, every year, for private tests, in order to modulate the quantity in an indirect manner proportional to the competitiveness of the manufacturers. From the current 200 units of tyres, this would rise to 230 for Yamaha and Honda and 170 for Ducati, with Aprilia and Ktm which they have though asked for more decisive action to “hold back” the Borgo Panigale manufacturer, reducing the tires to 140 or limiting the test days. Another way would be to intervene on numbers and possibilities engine development and number of wild card in the race. Everything is still at stake, with some openly contesting the eight Ducatis on the grid, the two from the Factory team and the six from the three private teams, which contribute to an unparalleled data collection.
ezpeleta and the dorna
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Carmelo Ezpeleta has already said that “even if they ask me to foresee some disadvantages for Ducati, we don’t talk about it: we can’t punish them for having been innovative and having studied the regulations better, while still doing everything within the scope of current legislation”. In Qatar we will return to discussing ed Ezpeleta he wants an answer: the decision must be made by Valencia, and then move from words to deeds. ‘Don Carmelo’ doesn’t mince his words and knows how to be convincing: “We listen to everyone, as always, but the final decision is Dorna’s alone and Dorna will decide”. We’ll see how.
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