This is news that will disappoint Ducati and part of the Aprilia staff. Two Italian manufacturers who had put forward the hypothesis of a single motorcycle per rider in MotoGP. A well-known rule in Moto3, Moto2 and even WSBK. So why not generalize it, at a time when we will have to make drastic cuts in budgets? Carmelo Ezpeleta explains why this won't happen... but there will be savings!
It is a working hypothesis developed by Ducati and which received a certain response from Aprilia. Since the Coronavirus will leave behind a bloodless economic and social world, we must already think about reducing budgets. The opportunity to bring MotoGP in line with other categories by applying the rule of only one motorcycle per rider in the box was therefore noted. But it was not shared by everyone, far from it. In his last intervention in the form of a round table covering all the news, Carmelo Ezpeleta, the boss of Dorna, promoter of the Grands Prix, has decided: there will always be two machines in the stands for the rider in MotoGP.
A false good idea for two reasons
Carmelo Ezpeleta explains the reasons for his opposition: “ we decided not to do it », announced the Spaniard to the 'GPRoundTable'. The boss of Dorna thus identifies two major drawbacks to this false good idea: “ First of all, we think that the current rule of so-called “flag to flag” racing in wet weather works very well. And secondly, a rider cannot participate in the race if he crashes hard during warmup and only has one bike. The savings made here would have a negative impact on the championship », Analysis Ezpeleta.
However, the topic of cost savings is not irrelevant. “ We focus with those involved on reducing unnecessary costs ", precise Ezpeleta which, in collaboration with Dorna managers, is looking for better strategic measures to financially relieve manufacturers and teams.
It will be recalled thatHervé Poncharal, boss of IRTA, the team association, was also against the principle of the single motorcycle. Moreover, KTM had proposed limiting the number of mechanics per motorcycle to four. To be continued…
