At Valencia’s MotoGP finale, the works team principals got together to give an insight to their opinions in the season that saw nine different winners in the premiere class, and how that came about.  Electronics together with the Michelin tyres were the expected reasons, but on the table were many more interesting subjects including next season, which begins tomorrow.

Spec-ECU
HRC’s Livio Suppo has no doubt the introduction of the common software was a successful idea because it opened the doors to new manufacturers, like KTM, and allowed others, like Suzuki, to improve quickly.  “For some manufacturers like Yamaha,” stressed Yamaha’s Director Lin Jarvis, “this has represented a disadvantage from a strictly technical point of view, but the show has benefitted and also satellite teams, that were able to win a race this season.”

“Being a young project, the introduction of the single ECU has allowed us to catch up more quickly with the other factory teams,” said Davide Brivio, Suzuki Team Manager. “For us it was the first proper MotoGP season,” stressed Aprilia Racing Manager Romano Albesiano. “The common software levelled the performance and put all in the same technical situations”.
“The common ECU togther with the adaptation to the Michelin tyres have been the determining factors of this season,” summed up Ducati’s Paolo Ciabatti.  

Rider line-up
The rider merry-go-round started so early this season that it affected performance as well as the atmosphere inside the garage.

“For us, consistency brings good results because to be competitive at this level everything has to be perfect. The fact that Jorge (Lorenzo) decided about his future so early in the season was a distraction, looking at what Ducati was doing. I don’t know how much this affected the season, but for sure it was not easy for the team as well,” said Jarvis.

Ducati, too, went through a difficult moment when they hade to decided to continue with only one if the two Andreas. And when Iannone won in Austria, many people questioned their choice to keep Dovizioso. “Regarding Lorenzo, we knew there was a chance, so we couldn’t wait and we signed him. Regarding the second rider, it was a difficult decision,” said Ciabatti.

Suzuki suffered the decision of Vinales to go to Yamaha. “We had to be creative, so we chose  a top rider like Iannone and a rookie like Rins, with the intention to make him grow as we did with Maverick,” commented Brivio.

Aprilia too made a brave choice, replacing both of their riders with Aleix Espargaro and Sam Lowes, when Bradl and Bautista are finishing regularly in the top ten.

Third rider
This season we have seen many crashes and injured riders and the teams have been obliged to find a replacement at the very last minute. It happened to Ducati with Iannone, for example or to Honda with Pedrosa.  It’s not an easy task to find a competitive rider.  Having a fast test rider like Michele Pirro under contract is a sort of guarantee for Ducati and they were prepared for the inconvenience. But what of the other teams?

“In the past we tried to offer a position of test rider to a young rider, but it’s difficult for them to accept because they want to race,” explained Suppo. “Also to find a replacement in Moto2 is complicated. To have Nicky Hayden was perfect, but this can happen only when MotoGP and WSBK don’t clash.”  

Having a third rider like in F1 in not an easy solution in MotoGP. “To be competitive in MotoGP a rider need to race every weekend,” stresses Yamaha’s Lin Jarvis.  Aprilia, on the contrary surprised because they won’t be unprepared in 2017: “Eugene Laverty will race with us in WSBK and we have planned several MotoGP test with him. If we will need a replacement, he will be our first choice,” stated Albesiano, before adding they were still in talks with Mike Di Meglio.