VOL. 51 ISSUE 49 DECEMBER 9, 2014 P75
the concession they were giving
manufacturers that were behind
the curve in development—Duca-
ti and new entries, Suzuki and
Aprilia—before the agreement of
one set of rules in 2016.
The loophole allowed any
manufacturer entering the cham-
pionship, or one that hadn't won
a race in dry conditions (Ducati),
to use more fuel than the factory
machines, the option of Open-
class tire allocations (softer com-
pounds) and more engines (12)
per rider per season. But most
importantly for the manufactur-
er's goals of catching up in devel-
opment—there was no freeze in
engine development.
These concessions, designed
to even the playing field a bit,
were all that Ducati and new tech-
nical guru GiGi Dall'Igna needed
to make huge strides in closing
the gap on Honda and Yamaha.
So, how did Honda and Yama-
ha feel about that?
Suppo was realistic. He felt
that more OEMs, the healthier
the series. But that was followed
with the other reality that Honda
still has the advantage. With
young superstar Marc Marquez
and their formidable machines,
they dominated the series, taking
both the championship and con-
structors title.
"This is competition, it is
good," Suppo said. "If many man-
ufacturers are here, the more we
are happy. We totally understood
that last year the results of Ducati
was not enough to make every-
body happy. And this means to
increase the chance that Ducati
remains in this championship for
a long time, that is [everyone's]
aim, because Ducati is a strong
brand, and I think they have a big
value to this championship. And I
think it was correct to give some
advantage. I think, at the mo-
ment, it is still reasonable. I think
the level of performance is get-
ting closer. If they start winning
10 races in a row maybe, yes, we
need to think about it."
Ducati's Ciabatti was also re-
alistic about that fact. At the mo-
ment, they haven't won a race
in the dry and will thus keep the
advantage for the next season as
well.
Yamaha's Jarvis agreed that
for the factory teams it was not a
problem but was sympathetic to
the satellite teams.
The top of MotoGP consists
of four guys on the factory
Yamahas and Hondas:
Valentino Rossi (46), Marc
Marquez (hidden), Dani
Pedrosa (hidden) and Jorge
Lorenzo (99).
Yamaha racing boss Lin Jarvis
sympathized with the non-Open
class satellite teams who were at a
disadvantage to Ducati's with the
Open-class concessions.
