MotoGP: Ducati Loses Concessions for 2016

Ducati are to lose their concessions for the 2016 MotoGP season. Meeting at Assen, the Grand Prix Commission decided to apply the system of concession points which was due to take effect from the 2016 season to the results of Ducati for this season.

This means that from next year, Ducati will race under the same rules as Honda and Yamaha, which means that they will have seven engines per season, with no development allowed during the season, and testing with factory riders restricted to official tests and a handful of private tests.

That Honda and Yamaha had been pushing for Ducati to have their concessions removed for next year was first reported here after Jerez. After Ducati’s strong start to 2015, with six podiums from eight races, it was clear that the Desmosedici GP15 is a competitive motorcycle.

Technically, Ducati would only have had their concessions for 2016 taken away if they had won a race in the dry. While the GP15 is fast, it is still a very young project, and needs some work doing to it.

Winning a dry race would also require beating Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa, not the easiest of tasks at the best of times.

At Mugello, sources close to one Japanese factory told us that they did not expect the matter to be decided before the end of the year. That would give Ducati most of the rest of the 2015 season to try to win a race.

If they had not done so by the time the GP circus headed overseas for the flyaways, the concessions could have been removed by the GPC once they met in Japan or Valencia. The GPC appear to have decided to act earlier, to allow Ducati to prepare.

This means that Ducati will start the 2016 season under the same condition as Honda and Yamaha. All of the bikes on the grid will have the same amount of fuel (22 liters), the same spec electronics, and the same allocation of tires, the special soft tire having been removed.

But Honda, Yamaha, and Ducati will have seven engines per season, with no development allowed, and testing with factory riders limited to official tests and five days of private testing.

Aprilia and Suzuki will have twelve engines per season, will be allowed to modify the design of their engines during the season, and will be allowed to test with factory riders at private tests as often as they like, within the constraints of the tire allocation limit for testing.

Should they accrue six concession points in a season, then they will lose the right to test with factory riders immediately, and all of the concessions for the following season.

The GPC also introduced a number of other rules. They allowed factories to provide three different specifications of homologated engines, including engines from previous seasons. The two factory riders must be on the same engine spec, riders for satellite teams may have different spec engines, even in the same team.

The press from the FIM is shown below:

FIM Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix Decision of the Grand Prix Commission

The Grand Prix Commission, composed of Messrs. Carmelo Ezpeleta (Dorna, Chairman), Ignacio Verneda (FIM CEO), Herve Poncharal (IRTA) and Takanao Tsubouchi (MSMA) in the presence of Javier Alonso (Dorna) and Mike Trimby (IRTA, Secretary of the meeting), in a meeting held on 26 June in Assen, made the following decisions:

Technical Regulations

MotoGP Class

Concessions – MotoGP Class – Effective Immediately

In 2015 any manufacturer who currently benefits from concessions and who achieves six concession points in dry or wet conditions will lose all concessions from the following season.

Note: As Ducati have already achieved more than six concession points in 2015 they will lose concessions from 2016.

Engine Allocations in the MotoGP Class – Effective 2016

In the interests of cost saving, manufacturers may use engines with specifications homologated from previous seasons, providing that such engines still comply with current technical regulations.

Each manufacturer may homologate a maximum of three different specifications before the first event of the season.

Before the first event of the season, every rider must nominate one specification of homologated engine which he must exclusively use for the entire season. This means that in a non-factory team different riders might use engines with different homologated specifications.

However, every manufacturer must nominate one team as its “Factory Team” and each rider in that team must use engines with the same homologated specification.

MotoGP Electronics, Sensors and Devices – Effective 2016

With the use of a single ECU and unified software it was necessary to clarify and update the regulations concerning supply and ownership of ECUs, the homologation of permitted sensors and the list of “free devices” that can be connected to the ECU. Full details will be published in the on-line version of the FIM Grand Prix regulations.

Sporting Regulations

Effective Immediately

In the interests of safety a regulation was approved which prohibits a rider stopping on the start and finish straight after the chequered flag.

Medical Code

The Commission approved initial plans to make changes to the structure of the Grand Prix medical services. This will involve changes to responsibilities within the permanent management and also better integration and involvement of the local circuit doctors.