The combination of extremely limited in-season testing for the current MotoGP machines (introduced as part of the cost-cutting measures in response to the global financial crisis) and expanded testing for the 2012 machines, allowing 8 extra test days for the 1000cc machines, was always likely to leave the factories open to accusations of bending the rules. After all, with the differences between the 2011 and 2012 machines being limited by the rule changes put in place (limiting the 1000cc bikes to four cylinders and an 81mm bore), and testing taking place in private, the opportunities for testing the 2011 bikes unseen were all too obvious.
The announcement yesterday that Ducati are due to race a radically revised version of their 800cc Desmosedici GP11 - dubbed the GP11.1 - based on the lessons learned while testing the GP12 has not so much fueled the rumors of cheating as turned them into a five-alarm conflagration. How, journalists and fans (especially those of riders other than Valentino Rossi) from around the world have been asking, can we be sure that Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden have been testing the GP12, as allowed, and not the GP11, as prohibited under the rules? And how, other fans have been asking, can we be sure that Casey Stoner has been lapping at Jerez with the RC213V which Honda is planning to race in 2012, and not the RC212V which is currently being raced this year?
No comments:
Post a Comment