VOL. 51 ISSUE 6 FEBRUARY 11, 2014 P43
the new standard-issue Magneti
Marelli control unit.
The new Open bikes include
some hangover ARTs from CRT,
but are led by proper production
racers from Honda and Yamaha
and last-year's factory bikes from
Ducati. They are condemned
to use control software, but in
exchange come major conces-
sions. They can slurp fuel (24 li-
ters) and rev away with an alloca-
tion of 12 rather than five engines.
But the outcome depends entire-
ly on the quality of the supplied
control electronics.
Tested last year by several of
the defunct CRT teams, the Dor-
na-controlled software started
out pretty rocky, but improved in
a series of steps so that by the
end of the year former critic Colin
Edwards found himself "able to
race again." There is no freeze
on development during the com-
ing season on either electronics
or engine development: Dorna is
in a position to make it as hard on
the factories as they see fit.
Here comes the twist, and
Ducati may be playing a clever
hand. Although the GP14s of fac-
tory teamsters and satellite rider
Andrea Iannone are currently en-
tered in the "Factory" category,
the Bologna factory is rumored
to be ready to reduce this status
to "Open." The extra fuel and en-
gines might be enough to make a
serious challenge; as importantly
they will be able to introduce en-
gine developments through the
year.
"We will decide in the coming
weeks," said team chief Paolo
Ciabatti.
One final question remained
for the open class: tires. The
less powerful CRT bikes weren't
able to put enough heat into the
regular tires, and last year were
provided with a softer option (fac-
tory riders in turn often found
their "harder" option unusable,
and cast longing eyes at these
softer tires, but weren't able to
use them). The new Open bikes
(or at least some of them) are
hardly less powerful than the
factory machines, and probably
need similar tires. Bridgestone
did bring a softer Open-only op-
tion to Sepang tests, and the day
after the test confirmed that they
would supply this tire for the full
season to the B-team riders: a
boost not only to Ducati but also
to Espargaro.
The Sepang tests took place over
three dry days, and the 2014 bikes
Ducati's Andrea
Dovizioso went faster
around Sepang at the
test than he'd ever been
before – on any bike.
"
DORNA IS IN A POSITION TO MAKE IT AS
HARD ON THE FACTORIES AS THEY SEE FIT.
"
