“Ducati win, regulations are wrong. Someone else wins, regulations are right!”
Concessions are set to play a key role in the 2024 MotoGP season
Gigi Dall’Igna has issued a strong dismissal of the new MotoGP concessions rules.
As the premier class’ dominant team, Ducati will be hit hardest by the tweaked regulations but they are aggrieved that KTM and Aprilia will receive benefits, in addition to Honda and Yamaha who the new rule was initially intended for.
Ducati’s inspirational engineer has hit out at the rules again.
"Let's say that we don't want to talk much about the concessions and some of their points,” he told Marca.
“We were willing to sign the first proposal that Dorna gave us, which, fundamentally, only gave aid to Honda and Yamaha.
“It was reasonable, for us, it was a balanced proposal, so we would have signed it instantly.
“On the other hand, other manufacturers took advantage of the opportunity to take advantage for themselves or try to disadvantage us.
“We liked this much less.
“We tried to resist, but out of the commitment of wanting to look good to everyone we had to be content with this.
“It is clear that both in MotoGP and in Superbike... it seems that when Ducati wins the regulation is wrong and when someone else wins, the regulation is right.
“It is something difficult, but it annoys you a lot.
“In World Superbikes, the only one penalised is Alvaro Bautista.
“Other years, when a rider won successively, no one said: 'You win because of this...'. He didn't win because he was good?
“We lowered our heads and worked until it came to us.
“And making a motorcycle from scratch, because the V4 is completely different from its predecessor and it was a risk to win the first year.
“The others, with old motorcycles from ten years ago, were there.
“We in Superbikes already agreed to give super concessions to the teams that had old bikes and were struggling in development.
“So we are not against helping those who have difficulties.
“Maybe one day we will be the ones who have difficulties, but punishing those who work well does not seem very sporting.”
Ducati must aim to win the MotoGP championship for the third year running despite the concessions rules.
They are not permitted any wildcard riders, they must use only 170 test tyres (the fewest of any manufacturer), they have a maximum of eight engines all year with a developmental freeze, and a single aerodynamic update.
They will retain the advantage of running eight bikes on the grid, compared to four for Honda, KTM and Aprilia, and just two for Yamaha.
And their Desmosedici - the brainchild of Dall’Igna - has been tested in Sepang. Enea Bastianini went fastest on the second day of the test, and Francesco Bagnaia did so on the third day. They fed back that the ‘24 bike is better than the ‘23 version.
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
