The Ducati Panigale V4s were too fast in the opening round of the WorldSBK Superbike Championship. If it continues like this, the technical regulations will impose a technical limitation. Here's how it works...
By Paul Gozzi / Corsedimoto.com
From one domination to another: establishing a certain technical balance in modern Superbike seems to have become an impossible exercise. Last year, BMW crushed the competition, with 19 victories in 36 races. Toprak Razgatlioglu had signed 18 of them, the only remaining one bearing the signature of Michael van der Mark on the wet of Magny Cours, moreover in the absence of the injured Turkish star. The Germans benefited from super concessions, that is to say that they could use prototypes of engines and cycle parts, including the chassis. The year 2024 has been the subject of a continuous flow of discussions.
Why is BMW complaining?
Everything changed this year: BMW no longer has the regulatory aids and was forced to use the standard chassis due to a controversial rule that was rewritten in November by a decision of Dorna, while on the contrary the managers of the Munich giant were convinced that they could still avoid it. But above all, the concept of limiting the engine speed was abandoned, replaced by a fuel control limited to 47 kilos/hour,
below the ideal consumption threshold of today's Superbikes (approximately 49 kilos/hour).
A supremacy never seen before in Superbike
Ducati was perfectly prepared for the interpretation of this new concept. Reducing the fuel flow means impoverishing the carburetion with a series of effects that we have summarized in this
dedicated article. In addition to the loss of power, this changes the character of the engine, which can become more abrupt, and increases the operating temperatures of the combustion chambers, cylinders and exhausts. This results in a risk of breakage. At Phillip Island, the Ducatis dominated like never before, particularly on Sunday: five bikes in single file in the Sprint race, and even six ahead of all the others in Race 2. The first opponent, the Yamaha ofAndrea Locatelli, was 11 seconds behind. This had never happened before, not even in 2004 when Ducati found itself virtually alone in the race, because the Japanese had left Superbike contesting the adoption of the single tyre supplier.
What happens now?
BMW took the ban on prototype chassis very badly, blaming Dorna for forcing the situation, at the instigation of its rivals (read: Ducati). Toprak has not minced his words since Friday's tests, and at the end of a very tense weekend, he put in a great performance: "It's a Ducati Cup, I could leave". The driver publicly interprets the feeling of the team principals. But the 2025 technical regulations have already provided for corrective measures in case one brand turns out to be much faster than the others.
How do they make the decision?
To establish the concessions and limitations, there is a complicated system managed by a secret algorithm, accessible to the stewards of the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme. It analyses scores, rankings, lap performances, top speeds and many other factors. The verdict is given every three laps (checkpoints). If after Phillip Island, Portimao (March 29-30) and Assen (April 14-15), Ducati has accumulated at least 12 concession points more than the closest manufacturer in the table, a penalty will be triggered.
How will Ducati be slowed down?
Please note: from this year onwards, the table is drawn up taking into account only the result of the best driver of each manufacturer, and no longer two as before, in order to avoid tricks, i.e. deliberately slowing down the second driver to influence the data and maintain certain concessions or avoid penalties. With a Nicholas Bulega launched in this way, it is very likely that Ducati will exceed the threshold of 12 concession points. If this happens, starting from Cremona (fourth round), all Ducatis will have half a kilo of petrol taken away, that is, the flow regulator of the Panigale V4 will be set at 46,5 kilos/hour.
Will this be a constant restriction?
Who can say? The problem with the Superbike regulations is that they are defined by the MSMA, that is, by the manufacturers themselves. So, when the engineers are at the definition table, they have the opportunity to move the needle of the scale in the direction that is most favorable to them. This means that, knowing what they are talking about and what they are proposing, they have already had the opportunity to see to what extent a given limitation affects them. Remember the controversy over the rev limiter. For a while, the Ducati was limited to 15 revs, instead of 850 on the road. But even with fewer revs, Alvaro Bautista continued to fly over his rivals, because by modifying the torque curve, the engineers at Borgo Panigale had managed to keep the maximum power in the range most needed on today's tracks, which are almost all very rolling. The technical outcome is uncertain, the only thing we are absolutely certain of is that the controversy will not end. On the contrary.
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Paul Gozzi
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