Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128241
Paolo and IfIIaur;z;o Flam;n; Wh a t percentage of that fee pa id by the teams to FGSport for tires will be ret ain ed by you before paying Pirelli? z ero percent! Even though this is p art of our co nfi dential agreement, w e can confirm that th e full amount of the ti re fee fro m eac h team will be pass ed on t o Pirell i, and in addition th e firs t four team s in eac h Wo rld Ch ampionsh ip the prev io us season will be supp lied with fre e tires the fo llowing year. O k ay , but you st ill won't di scl ose for reas ons of con fid entiali t y how mu ch of that fee is th en passed bac k ag ain by Pirelli to FGSport as a pay ment for being cho sen to su pply t he tires ? Of co urse, th ere is a sponsorship fee - it would be crazy not to have on e. B ut t hat fee g oes to FGSpo r t , not to th e t eam s - is that co rrec t? Q A Q A Q A Of course. w ell , that 's exactly the problem fo r so many of the top t eam s, especially in Wor ld Supersport, which have had a signific ant proportion of their total race budget - as much as 60 percent co vered by sponsors hip from tire compan ies in clu ding , even especially , Pire lli . Bu t now they must hand this over to you . Did you consider the ef fect cu tti ng a cont rol ti re dea l w ou ld have on such teams? ClearlY, this is one element that is a negative fac to r fo r some teams - even if they will still get free ti res if they fini sh in th e top fo ur of the cham p ionshi p. Bu t whe n yo u make such a decis ion with th e inte nt ion of even ing th ing s out for eve ry one, in ev it abl y th ere will be some leading teams that will be wo rse o ff - you can 't ma k e thi ng s p erfect fo r every on e. But wh il e som e team s will be in a less fav orab le eco no mic situa ti on , th ere will be others that will not on ly fi nd thems elves in a more fa vorab le pos it ion f in an ci all y , eve n m or e im po rta ntl y they will also have access to exactly the same tires as everyo ne else , and thi s will level th e field, whi ch wi ll ben efit th em still further. We had me etin gs at Im ola with tw o teams who will be entering our series nex t season - both very go od teams - at Nation al level. The y were extrem ely pleased abo ut the contro l tire rule, because the y k now th ey will not have a gap with the leading teams in term s of quality of tir es from th e beginnin g of their invol vem ent. A lso , th ey ca n fix the tire in gredien t in th eir 2 00 4 race bud get up front - they know exactly wha t it will cos t th em to ta ke part in the series from that sta ndpoint. IS the question of the wild cards that don 't already have Pirelli contracts in their own National series another issue you 're prepared to sacrifice? It's hard to see the Shane Byrne or Mat Mladin scenarios repeating themselves next season, when they're racing on Dunlops in their home series - yet this has been a key element in the past in attracting up to and even over 100,000 spectators to those races . First of all , we believe that th e declarations that wild cards w on't tak e part in the series next yea r ha s been an em otion al respon se - le t 's see how m any turn up at Sil verston e, once those emotion s hav e calmed down . O ka y, a Superb ike that ha s been develop ed t o run on Du n lop or Michel in ti re s m ay ha v e t ro ub le ad apting t o Pir ellis - but th at's not so mu ch th e case with Supersports. In ou r opi nio n, if Du nl op or Mich elin co ntra cts a team for it s National cham pionship , it' s no t necessarily in its int er est s t o preve nt t h at t ea m competi ng in it s home ro und of the Worl d Cha m pionship , if it wants to . But in any case, let's not ove rva lue the wil d card ele men t - t he success of t he W o r l d Su perbike Q A Q A J< 16 NOVEMBER 19. 2003' eye Championship depends on our pe rma ne nt ri ders, and whi le m an y tim es the wild card eleme nt has been a suc c essful ing red ient , at ot her ti mes it's c rea t ed problem s. Look back t o Sugo in 1999 , whe n we had a pe rmanent ri ders' revolution becau se, accord ing to them , the re were too ma ny wild ca rds who wer e hav in g a negative in flu en ce on the outcome of a tig htly co ntested Wo rld Ch am p ionship. After th at the FIM deci de d t o restric t th e n umbe r o f wil d cards to a m aximum of six - but still, t here have been examples at Br ands Hatc h and aga in at Lagun a Sec a even this yea r of wild ca rds desper ate to have their 45 m inutes of fam e, whic h co mes to th em j ust one week en d per year . so th ey d o stupid things like deliberately jump th e st art or try an im possib le ove rtaki ng m an euv er at th e fi rst turn, which m ak es m any of th e perma nent rid ers c rash. This illustr at es how wil d ca rds can be a probl em , as well as an op po rtun ity . s peaking of Laguna Seca , there 's a potential source of embarrassment coming there next July, when a round of the AMA Superbike series contested by Dunlop and Michelin will be held the same weekend as the Pirelli control tire-shod World Superbike Championship. How will you feel if the AMA contestants lap significantly faste r than the World ser ies ri ders? T hiS is an im port ant ques tion , becau se first of all , Pirelli will have direct input from every le ading pa rt ici pant in the Wor ld Championship in devel oping its tires , which giv es it a bett er feedback th an a tire co mpany th at has only a partial information base . Secon dl y , look in g at Pirelli 's recent his tor y in World Su persport, in 20 00 it gave ti res to only two teams fo r dev elo p ment purposes, but in 20 02 it won Q A ","po; 6 ; I e nevus th e World Championship , and in 2003, in sp ite of supplyi ng 60 percent of the Worl d Supersp ort grid, it repeat ed this ti tl e vic to ry . So wh y must we co nside r that Pirelli is a seco nd- divi sio n tire m anu fac tu rer - espec ia lly w h en it'll h av e suc h a st ro n g de ve lopme nt sq ua d co mp rising all th e l e adin g teams , and ride rs?! D O you and the FIM intend eventually to introduce a treaded tire rule for the Superbike class wor ldwide? Seeing Xaus and Hodgson's works Ducatis wearing treaded Michelins on a dry track on the grid of the Im ola round this year certainly seemed to po int in that direction, else why otherwise would Michelin develop such a tire , knowing that it wouldn' t be here next season? A t th e m oment t he re is no d ecisi on that w e should have treaded tires in Superbike. However, look ing back at the FIM 's press relea se in Septembe r, 2 0 0 1, wh ich set us o n t h e ro ad t o th e new tec hni cal ru les that ha ve been established for 2004, th e possibility t o have tr eaded tires in th e fut ure was stated th ere. Cl earl y , provided treaded ti re s co uld safely harness th e pe rfo rma nc e of the new generatio n of Superbikes, we woul d be very interest ed in Q A exploring th at directi on in th e fu ture, becau se this wo uld represent a further opportunity to emphas ize the inherent lin k betw een street motorcycles an d Sup erb ikes . s peak i ng of D ucati, there's a rumor going around that the price for D ucati's acqu iescence to the contro l tire ru le i s t ha t Pirelli will make a specia l range of tires for use by it , and nobody else . Can you comment on that? Q