INTERVIEW
P64
WORLD SUPERBIKE'S SCOTT SMART AND GREGORIO LAVILLA
BY GORDON RITCHIE
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
I
n terms of organization and
promotion, the FIM and Dorna
have got plenty to work on
right now - in both MotoGP and
World Superbike racing.
In the World Superbike pad-
dock the numerous technical
changes for the 2014 season
make life particularly busy for the
new FIM Technical Director Scott
Smart, and Dorna World Super-
bike Sporting Director Gregorio
Lavilla. We caught up with them
at the first round of a proposed
14-round season, to find out what
has changed and even more im-
portantly, what will change, in the
entire paddock.
Why did the rules for 2014
take so long to arrive, to be
finalized? What was the main
difficulty?
GL: We have a different per-
son in charge of the rules and
this change delayed everything.
Even if the main ideas were
there, price-capped suspen-
sion and brakes, a certain num-
ber changes in the gearbox - all
these things were approved in
the Superbike commission dur-
ing last year. Obviously, you have
to put down all the details, but
that does not mean that no one
knows in which way we were go-
ing. All that was clear. We saw
the new direction even written
by many people in the press. All
that was clear. But to put that on
paper is not easy. During this pe-
riod the structure of the techni-
cal team changed. You needed
to give some time to understand
where we wanted to go and then
the Technical Director to transmit
that to paper. Also there were
some inputs to consider.
In fairness we have to ac-
knowledge that World Super-
bike starts very early, in Feb-
ruary, which must have an
effect?
GL: I contacted Scott [Smart]
WORLD SUPERBIKE'S TECHNICAL AND SPORTING DIRECTORS TALK RULES AND FUTURE PLANS FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP.
New World Order
Former racer
and current
World Superbike
Sporting Director
Gregorio Lavilla
(right) talks with
Dorna's CEO
Carmelo Ezpeleta
(left) on the grid
at Imola.
