Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

Global
Breaking news

MotoGP needed rules revolution, says team boss

Tech 3 Yamaha boss Herve Poncharal believes that the regulations pursued by MotoGP organisers were a necessary step for the series to flourish.

Race action

Race action

Bridgestone Corporation

Start: Jorge Lorenzo, Yamaha Factory Racing leads
Jorge Lorenzo, Yamaha Factory Racing
Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team
Andrea Dovizioso, Ducati Team
Valentino Rossi, Yamaha Factory Racing
Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team
Valentino Rossi, Yamaha Factory Racing and Andrea Dovizioso, Ducati Team

Feathers were ruffled when a two-tier system was unveiled in MotoGP at the end of 2011, with CRT bikes introduced alongside the factory existing machinery in response to dwindling grid numbers.

One of the main features of the new subclass, recategorised as the ‘Open’ class for 2014, was the implementation of standard electronics, which will become mandatory across the board next season.

A complex system of rules concessions was also brought in to help Ducati close the gap to pacesetters Honda and Yamaha, as well as to tempt Suzuki and Aprilia to return to the grid.

Though not universally popular with the manufacturers, Poncharal insists that these changes have been for the good of the sport, arguing: “[The governing body] has done a great job.

“The essence of competition is to have the same regulations for everyone and to have the best [team] winning.

“What happens now is a consequence of the decisions we have made, the aim of which was to talk the constructors into staying and help the weakest get closer performance-wise.

“Maybe Ducati would have left without these advantages. This makes the show much more open than the eternal Honda-Yamaha fight.”

Crowds a good omen

Poncharal points to the healthy spectator figures MotoGP has enjoyed recently as evidence that the series is on the right track.

“After the [economic] crisis, some constructors and sponsors left and there were fewer spectators,” the Frenchman pointed out, “yet, at Jerez, we had 220,000 people in three days.”

“It’s nice to have such an audience, similar to what we had before the crisis.”

Poncharal was talking to Motorsport.com France's Léna Buffa

Be part of Motorsport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Pirro to ride third Ducati at Mugello
Next article Can Ducati end its losing streak at Mugello?

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

Global