Ducati penalized by 250 laps and Kawasaki helped with 250 more laps. A decision that shifts the balance of the championship? We asked the technicians of the two manufacturers with the microphones off and here is what emerged
5 maggio 2023
END and Dorna communicated yesterday afternoon that they had decided to penalize the Ducati Panigale V4s by 250 laps engine and to have allowed the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10 RR 250 more laps. A decision that falls within the regulations, which provide that every three rounds, based on the results of the riders of each individual manufacturer, and according to a mysterious logarithm that I have been defining for some time as a “supercazzola”, it is possible intervene to level the performance of the bikes to the advantage of the uncertainty of the championship and the show. Nothing new therefore, given that it had already happened in the past that the FIM and Dorna intervened, for example by removing 250 laps from the Ducati in 2019 or by granting “super concessions” to Honda and BMW who were able to modify their respective frames.
It is clear that this last decision leaves us somewhat perplexed first of all for the timing, given that it arrived on Thursday in Barcelona, but as we wrote on March 17th it was foreseeable that, in the light of last season’s results and the first three rounds of 2023, Ducati would have been penalized and Kawasaki helpedgiven that this is required by the regulation. Why then communicate it to the teams only the day before the tests?
The decision has obviously caused a sensation among the “purists” who do not allow interference in the championship, and among Ducati supporters, who feel targeted and unjustly penalized (if we are the strongest it is because we have earned it with our work ).
But remove or add 250 engine revolutions what does it actually entail? Was Ducati really penalized and was Kawasaki really helped?
To understand how things actually are, the only thing to do is talk with the microphones off with the technicians of the two manufacturers. Not with the technical managers, not with the official sources, but with the mechanics, with those who get their hands on the engines or with the “electronics”.
Ducati
Let’s say right away that in Ducati nobody pulled their hair out. “There are some circuits (certainly not the one in Barcelona) where the 250 rpm less will be felt – the opinion of the technicians of the two-wheeled redhead – but this it doesn’t represent a big problem for our pilots”. Of course when they take something away from you it’s never good for you, but the problem that has emerged is another one. The 2023 Panigale V4 was prepared all winter both on the bench and in the tests, calculating a maximum speed of 16100 rpm, and the gearbox was designed accordingly. The 250 rpm less go to invalidate the work done up to now. Many of the data that has been collected is no longer valid, starting with what the Ducati teams had stored during the Barcelona tests at the end of March/beginning of April. If we want to find a silver lining it is that running at a lower speed the engine should have a longer life and a lower possibility of breakage. And that’s why when the V4 was penalized with 250 rpm in 2019, many at Ducati admitted that the Panigale was already being used at that number of rpm precisely for greater reliability of the engine. Also note that this new rule affects not only the two factory bikes of the Aruba team, but also those of the privateer teams. It is no coincidence that Marco Barnabò met the press yesterday to express his disappointment. “I have the heaviest rider and now they’re also taking away some engine revs…..”
Kawasaki
In Ducati they don’t cry, but in Kawasaki they don’t celebrate. The Ninja’s problem, as Rea has stated dozens of times, is engine power. Of course 250 more laps don’t hurt, but they don’t change the state of things as they help the pilot only at maximum revs and therefore in top speed. A welcome “help” but what it does not increase the competitiveness of the Ninja. On the other hand, however, exactly what is written above applies to the Panigale, namely that it was changed the balance of the engine and gearbox. It is obvious that the Kawasaki engineers have left some margin, but the question that many of the black and green technicians are asking is whether the increase in revs can be to the detriment of the reliability of the engines. Also because (and this also applies to Ducati) the engines have already all been punchedand cannot be reopened to recondition them in the light of the new rpm.
Summarizing the decision of the FIM/Dorna as it does not damage the Italian manufacturer too much, it does not significantly help the Japanese one, but from some points of view creates some problems for both. The only sure effect is to fuel controversies and discussions. Could this be the intention of the Spanish organizer?
