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Yamaha Withdraws Request
To Unseal Moto GP Engines
Yamaha has withdrawn its request to
unseal the engines to replace internal
components which they believe caused
issues for Maverick Viñales, Valentino
Rossi, and Franco Morbidelli at Jerez.
Yamaha had made a formal request to
the MSMA, the MotoGP manufacturers’
association, to open the engines and
swap out defective parts.
Initially, the suspicion fell on sensors
inside the exhaust port, but it is now
believed that the problem was caused
by the valves. Yamaha had set out
its reasons to make the change in its
submission to the MSMA.
Under the technical regulations, the
manufacturers are allowed to unseal
the engines to replace parts only if they
can get unanimous permission from the
other MSMA members, and that such a
change does not confer a performance
advantage and is necessary on safety
grounds.
That is where Yamaha’s case appears
to have fallen down. The other
manufacturers were not convinced by
Yamaha’s explanation, and asked for
more information to be able to make a
decision on approval.
This put Yamaha in a very delicate
situation. They would have liked
to change out the parts, but to get
permission to do so, they would have
had to reveal a level of technical detail
which could have given away too much
information to their rivals.
Instead, Yamaha has decided that they
can manage the rest of the season on
the engines they have.
The fact that the Red Bull Ring was
the toughest track for engines left on
the calendar may have influenced their
decision.After Spielberg, the factories
face the front straight at Barcelona once,
and a double header at Aragon, though
Aragon’s fast back straight is downhill.
Yamaha’s predicament is in part a result
of the dysfunction inside the MSMA. The
manufacturers’ association has long been
unable to agree on anything, with the
disagreement between Ducati and the
other manufacturers at Qatar 2019 over
their use of the rear swingarm spoiler
being the final breach.
With no goodwill between manufacturers,
they are not inclined to give each other
any leeway in situations such as this.
Naturally, this is likely to come back and
bite the other manufacturers in the future.
If another manufacturer suffers a similar
issue to Yamaha in the next few years,
and it is a factory which denied Yamaha’s
request, Yamaha are likely to treat them
in exactly the same way, and deny a
request to unseal engines.
Yamaha must now juggle their remaining
engines for the rest of the season.
Three engines have been withdrawn
for allocation: 1 each for Rossi, Viñales,
and Morbidelli, all three having suffered
issues at Jerez.
The engine in the bike which was
involved in the crash between Franco
Morbidelli and Johann Zarco has
not been withdrawn: the engines are
designed to withstand crashes, but the
extreme temperatures at Jerez may
have put the bikes outside their operating
limits.
That leaves Rossi, Viñales, and Morbidelli
with four engines for the remaining ten
races, and Fabio Quartararo with five…
The engine lists to be published by Dorna
on as we type may reveal a little more.
However, the engine lists only track
whether engines ARE used, not whether
they CAN be used.
Only in the next few weeks will we learn
whether Yamaha will use them for the
races, for practice, when there is least to
lose, or leave them crated as a backup
option in case one of their other engines
fails…
Interesting times for Moto GP fans!
More BMW News
Tom Sykes will spend a third season with the
BMW Motorrad WorldSBK racing team, signing a
one-year deal with the German outfit this week.
He will be joined in the garage by Michael van der
Mark, who will take his first season on the BMW
S1000RR next year.
The re-signing of Sykes is no surprise, though the
real news here might be the shifting of Michael
van der Mark from the Yamaha squad to the
BMW outfit.
A riding star in the World SBK paddock, Van der
Mark might be the added extra that could make
the BMW World SBK project a real contender in
the World Superbike Championship, though the
Sykes and the S1000RR have made marked
improvement with each outing.
“Tom has been part of our World SBK Team
from the very start and is an important pillar of
this project”, said Marc Bongers, BMW Motorrad
Motorsport Director.
“We are pleased to be able to continue along the
common path in 2021, which we embarked upon
with the first tests back in December 2018. This
gives us continuity, which is very important for the
successful development of a project.”
“We have already achieved a lot together, and
the goal is now to definitively close the gap to the
front-runners. Tom’s extensive knowledge of the
BMW S 1000 RR and his input will play a key role
in achieving this.”
Source: BMW Motorrad; Photo: WorldSBK