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One of the topics that has been much discussed in this early part of the season is Superconcessions. Many people wonder what they are, what they are used for and why they are used in World Superbike. As we know, BMW has been enjoying them since the first race and thanks to the talented Toprak is dominating this Championship. Yet, in spite of so many victories, the German bike has not been castrated as happened last year to Ducati, when 250 rpm were removed before the Barcelona round and the same again before Imola.
Let's start, however, with the principle and try to get some clarity.
As we already know, for some years now, the "Balance of Performance" (BOP) has been instituted in Superbike, which is a system designed in order to balance the performance of the bikes on the grid. It's not something that is in MotoGP, where the scope is very wide, whereas in Superbike the regulations are more stringent. In addition, there are five manufacturers on the track with different philosophies and working methods, so the decision was made to create a system to balance the values in the field.
CONCESSIONS.
On the one hand, then, we have the Concessions, which give a manufacturer the opportunity to intervene in a more limited way on certain components, such as changing the camshaft or being able to use three swingarms as opposed to the two required by the regulations.
The Concessions regulations are tied to a points system (10-8-6-4-3) awarded for Race 1 and Race 2 while the points are (5-4-3-2-1) for the Superpole Race. The moment a manufacturer finds itself more than 33 points behind another, the possibility of using concessions is triggered for the struggling manufacturer.
SUPERCONCESSIONS
Quite a different matter, however, with regard to the Superconcessions, which allow a manufacturer in difficulty to be able to intervene much more sharply and massively on its motorcycle. That's right, because in addition to intervening on components such as the engine and chassis, you can even modify the frame . You read that right, even the chassis!
Important thing: the kind of modifications that are implemented by a manufacturer on a motorcycle are the exclusive knowledge of the FIM and Dorna, so it they are unknown to the other manufacturers. Put simply: if BMW has made major changes to the chassis thanks to Superconcessions, Ducati and the other factories are not aware of them.
Having come to this point, we wonder: when is a factory given the green light to access Superconcessions and how is the figure calculated?
SUPERCONCESSIONS - HOW DO THEY WORK?
The count is done every two rounds, referred to as checkpoints. As the last table says (Concession and Super Concession Used), starting from round one BMW and Honda activated them while from round two Kawasaki did.
The calculation system is based on 75 percent of the race distance time of the two factory riders, however, minus the three slowest laps of each. In addition, races held in the wet do not count.
The figure that comes out after the last checkpoint, i.e., the Most race is 0.77878 for BMW, 1.67049 for Ducati, 9.971475 for Honda, 6.66975 for Kawasaki, and 4.304345 for Yamaha (Concession and Superconcession Tokens table).
Now that we have data from each manufacturer there are benchmark indicators. If the figure that emerges is greater than 3, a manufacturer is entitled to a concession. If, on the other hand, it is greater than 8, it is entitled to a Superconcession. If, on the other hand, the figure is less than 0.5, a manufacturer has 250 revs removed.
Since BMW's figure is 0.77878, therefore greater than 0.5, the German motorcycle will not have any revs taken off, despite the superiority shown by Toprak, the protagonist of ten consecutive victories.
The reason is very simple: while on the one hand Toprak is making all the difference, on the other hand there is the performance of Michael van der Mark that raises the figure. In addition, it is interesting to note the race conduct on Toprak's part. At the moment the Turk is not pushing 100%, among other things raising his pace in the second part of the race, as he did for example in Race 2 at Donington or Most. By doing so, the Turk keeps his average lap time high, thus avoiding getting close to the infamous 0.5 of the reference indicator.
So here is the trick revealed and why BMW will not be penalized at least until Magny-Cours. Is it right? Is it wrong? You just have to turn to the MSMA and its algorithm, which has been running it all since this year.
