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SBK, Concessions and engine rev limitations, here's what might happen to Ducati

Foti speaks. Bautista and the Panigale V4 are dominating the championship, but after Aragon it will be hard for other teams to receive help

SBK: Concessions and engine rev limitations, here's what might happen to Ducati

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Ducati has won the first three championship races, dominating on each occasion with Alvaro Bautista. We're still at the start of the season but from what we've seen, we wonder whether Ducati will step in and penalise the Spaniard, and Ducati, in order to shake up the playing field.

Serafino Foti has this to say: “I think it's important to clarify something - begins the Ducati team manager – I say this because we need to firstly separate concessions from the engine rev limitation, as these are two different things and it's easy to get confused”.  

With regard to the first, Foti refers to the regulation: “If, after the first three rounds, one manufacturer has at least a nine-point advantage over others, the others can receive concessions, such as the use of a new fork, for example. This is to help those who need to close the gap”.

The classification is not that of the championship though: “The points are assigned according to the following criteria, three points for first place, two for second and one for third, but the Superpole Race is not considered. So right now, Ducati has 9 points, Kawasaki 7 (Rea 6 and Haslam 1) and Yamaha 2 (1 Lowes and 1 Melandri). In practice, there is only a two point difference between Ducati and Kawasaki. Considering the current trend, with only one Ducati dominating right now, it seems impossible that the chasing pack will benefit from concessions post-Aragon.

The engine rev limitation is a different matter:In this case, Dorna can decide during the year, after three, four or even five rounds, to intervene in order to balance the championship, regardless of a manufacturers' points. This decision would be made based on wins and gaps between riders in the race. In this case, any action is at the organiser's discretion.  

If we look back at last season, despite Rea's many wins, the Cannibal's Kawasaki did not lose any additional revs during the season.          

Translated by Heather Watson
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