Deussen faced headwinds at Superbike debut due to a jungle of rules

The excitement surrounding the Euro Moto – which will be back next year as the IDM as usual – remained undimmed for Daniel Deussen, owner of the company and the Deussen Engines team, following the protest lodged by the Triple M Ducati Frankfurt team at the season finale at the Hockenheimring. Nevertheless, the opening weekend offered everything that motor racing has to offer. Deussen describes himself as a one-man operation based near Lake Constance, where he has enjoyed success tuning control units – primarily for Ducati motorbikes, amongst other things.

At some point, the idea took root in his mind: why not test himself against strong competition in a proper race? “If we’re going to do it, let’s do it properly,” was the motto, and the Euro Moto Superbike was chosen as the arena. “I’m on good terms with Philipp Öttl, and he’d already spent a day testing my motorbike at Hockenheim,” says Deussen, explaining how it all came about. “And it was clear to me that you won’t get very far if you just turn up at the Euro Moto on your own. You need a crew chief, and Philipp Öttl came up with the idea of bringing in Patrick Hobelsberger.” The Bavarian had himself been active in the Euro Moto series at the start of the year, leading his own team. In Bálint Kovács, they found a rider who knew both the championship and the circuit. They also brought on board a workshop manager from a Ducati dealer they were friends with as a mechanic, and a man to handle the electronics.

The pitfall of the Euro Moto regulations

Looking at the Deussen Engines team’s Ducati, it was abundantly clear to those with technical expertise that it was not fitted with Ducati’s own electronics, unlike, for example, the Ducatis ridden by Lukas Tulovic and Lorenzo Zanetti. Daniel Deussen had opted for Mectronik electronics. As these are not yet homologated for Euro Moto Superbike and are therefore not included on the Eligible Parts List, Daniel Deussen wanted to play it safe ahead of his guest appearance. To this end, he contacted the series’ official technical adviser. “He said that with a wildcard, it’s perfectly acceptable to do that and referred me to the technical commissioners,” reports Deussen. There, he was waved through during the technical scrutineering on Thursday at the Euro Moto finale in Hockenheim.

The regulations aren’t very well put together.

Daniel Deussen

The protest lodged by rival Lorenzo Zanetti – whose team boss, Matthias Moser, had been ruled out the previous day due to a lack of a licence – against the non-compliant electronics was subsequently upheld by the stewards on Sunday. “I’d specifically checked with the relevant authorities beforehand,” said Deussen, “I actually wanted to avoid precisely this scenario, but I didn’t get it confirmed in writing. So that Bálint could race at all, he lodged an appeal and had to pay a 500-euro appeal deposit. The appeal has since been withdrawn to save on legal costs, as unfortunately there is little prospect of success.”

Deussen is not the first to have stumbled across a contradictory set of circumstances. “The regulations aren’t well put together,” Deussen concludes, “and leave far too much room for interpretation.” And his personal take on it all? “A Euro MotoE campaign like this is difficult. But we’ve shown that with heart and soul and passion, you can make progress and achieve good results. I can’t say just yet how things will pan out. I won’t be running a whole season on my own with my own team, though. I can’t manage that alongside my day job. But if it does go ahead, it’ll definitely be with Ducati.”