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Andrea Dovizioso and Ducati top management haven’t had much to say to each other since summer 2019. But now the rift continues to intensify.
The eight-year collaboration between Andrea Dovizioso and Ducati Corse has consequences in court. For several weeks, Dovis manager Simone Battistella has been worried whether top managers have come up with the plan ahead of the season to prevent the three-time MotoGP runner-up in 2020 from winning the title. At the start of the season it became clear that the dispute with the 15-time MotoGP winner had intensified too much and a new contract was no longer an option.
That’s why Ducati has hired new riders like Jorge Martin and Enea Bastianini and the contracts with Jack Miller and Pecco Bagnaia have been extended. The 23-year-old Italian presented himself as a new model after the two Jerez GPs, who figured out how to deal with the Ducati Desmosedici if you want to ride the best times.
With Dovizioso, however, the negotiations were suspended until the end of August. Dovi took home third and sixth places from Jerez but continued to complain about the usual weaknesses of the GP20. On the Dovizioso field, some technical incidents were subsequently documented that gave rise to the suspicion that Ducati was no longer particularly interested in winning the title with the number 04.
Because the Ducatisti and the Italian press would not have understood if Dovi had finally given the Reds the first title since 2007 (Casey Stoner) and then ran away in the dispute.
There is even a suspicion that Ducati wanted to spare the expensive World Cup bonus due to budget constraints at the time of Corona.
SPEEDWEEK.com faced this sad chapter two weeks ago.
The Yamaha valve scandal has given it new nourishment.
Why Dovizioso’s field is now wondering: why Ducati did not protest against the mild judgment with which the MotoGP Stewards Panel for the Spanish GP Yamaha and the two teams concerned Monster and Petronas only received points from the World Championship and the team world championship, but not the drivers world championship.
Had winner Quartararo and runner-up Viñales been deprived of points in the drivers’ championship, “Dovi” would have gone from third to first place at the Spanish GP on July 19. He would have scored 25 points instead of 16 and established himself as the clear favorite for the title after Spielberg’s victory. And now he would be third instead of sixth!
Dovizioso’s camp argues that Ducati could have imposed a tougher verdict in the MSMA team association.
After all, Domi Aegerter at Misano 2017 and Fabio Quartararo at Motegi 2018 lost their Moto2 victories due to far more innocuous technical mistakes made by their teams.
Andrea Dovizioso declined to comment on the topic yesterday. “If I say something about it, my manager will kill me,” he feared with a meaningful smile.
So why didn’t the five rival producers in the MSMA support tighter sanctions?
Pit Beirer, KTM’s Motorport Director, has a plausible explanation for this.
“The Yamaha valve issue was discussed at two MSMA meetings in Spielberg,” Beirer notes. “The nature of the possible sanctions has never been discussed. Yamaha’s competitors only wanted valve data and evidence that it was indeed a faulty shipment. “
However, Yamaha was unable to provide this proof because illegal valves from another manufacturer were installed at the first Jerez GP. They have caused three engine failures and are clearly different from the valves found in the homologated “sample engine”.
Pit Beirer refers to the area of responsibility of the MSMA. “All six of the MotoGP factories are members of the Sports Motorcycle Manufacturers Association. We are responsible for technical regulations and their compliance, and not for penalties. In case of technical misconduct, the FIM and the Stewards Panel are responsible for the penalties. We MSMA members just wanted to understand why a plant wants to install more valves in mid-season sealed engines. “
Clearly: Ducati, Honda, Suzuki, KTM and Aprilia suspected that the new valves would serve to increase performance.
While the Yamaha crew continued to get caught up in the contradictions, other MSMA members insisted on this issue.
Rightly. Meanwhile, clear differences in material and geometry were found in the supposedly identical valves.
Viñales needed a sixth engine and had to start from the pit lane in Valencia. The opponents wanted to achieve a similar “engine penalty” through their stubborn and justified new drilling.
Pol Espargaró finished 6th at the Spanish GP, he would have climbed back to 3rd if Quartararo, Viñales and Morbidelli (5th) had lost their points in the drivers’ championship.
“But no one in the MSMA has dealt with the sanctions,” assures Pit Beirer. “We as KTM have never been interested in protesting the doctor and the amount of the fines.”
The Austrians want to achieve their success on the track, not on the green table.
Status of the drivers’ championship after 12 out of 14 races:
1. Mir, 162 Punkte. 2. Quartararo 125. 3. Rins 125. 4. Viñales 121. 5. Morbidelli 117. 6. Dovizioso 117. 7. Pol Espargaró 106. 8. Nakagami 105. 9. Miller 92. 10. Oliveira 90. 11. Petrucci 77 12. Binder 76. 13. Zarco 71. 14. Alex Márquez 67. 15. Rossi 58. 16. Bagnaia 42. 17. Lecuona 27. 18. Aleix Espargaró 27. 19. Crutchlow 26. 20. Bradl 16. 21. Smith 12. 22. Rabat 10. 23. Pyrrhus 4.
Constructors’ championship after 12 of the 14 races:
1. Suzuki 188. 2. Ducati 181 Punkte. 3. Yamaha 163. 4. KTM 159. 5. Honda 130. 6. Aprilia 36.
World team championship after 12 of the 14 races
1. Team Suzuki Ecstar, 287 Punkte. 2. Petronas Yamaha SRT 205. 3. Ducati Team 194. 4. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 182. 5. Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 159. 6. Pramac Racing 138. 7. LCR Honda 131. 8. Red Bull KTM Tech3, 117 9. Repsol Honda Team 83. 10. Esponsorama Racing 81. 11. Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 39.
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