Tulovics’ Assen start in doubt; Balance of Performance cuts revs by 500 rpm

On Friday, the latest issue of the Euro Moto Bulletin, focusing on technical matters, arrived at the office of Matthias Moser, owner of the Triple M Ducati Frankfurt team. Following this year’s revised Balance of Performance, the first reduction was due after another one-two finish at Oschersleben. Only the motorcycle ridden by each manufacturer’s best rider is taken into account.

Lukas Tulovic is currently on a roll and has a clean track record, apart from the first race in Brno, where a faulty shock absorber caused problems. However, the announcement of the 500 rpm rev limit came rather late – just a week before he is due to take to the track for the first practice session at the next Euro Moto round in Assen.

Search in Italy

Since then, things have been in a right state at Moser and his team. After all, it’s not as simple as just pressing a button to cut 500 rpm. “We don’t know if we’ll manage to sort this out by Assen,” he admits candidly. “We have absolutely no experience with rev limiting on the new bike. And it’s something that can only be done by someone directly from Ducati.” And that makes the problem even bigger.

Because in August, absolutely nothing happens in Italy. The whole country is on holiday. As there’s also a long summer break in the Superbike World Championship and MotoGP, Ducati’s headquarters has shut up shop too. In Frankfurt, they’re now phoning themselves hoarse trying to track down anyone who can sort out the problem.

“We could have managed it with last year’s electronics,” explains Moser. “But with the new V4R model, we’re also using Ducati’s in-house electronics. And the rev limit can only be adjusted by Ducati.” To make matters worse, the team truck with the motorbikes is already in Assen, where the Euro Moto series continues next week.

“Of course, I’m also wondering about the fairness of it all,” Moser reflects. “Because if things go badly, there’ll still be 12 riders on the grid at Assen. In my opinion, Lukas Tulovic is the best rider on the best bike. He’s now being penalised.” If at least two riders from a manufacturer were to be classified, Ducati wouldn’t really have a problem, as team-mate Lorenzo Zanetti isn’t currently having his best season. “BMW have been champions seven times in recent years,” Moser recalls. “There was never any discussion about how to hold them back. I also find the short notice worrying. At the moment, we don’t know how or whether we’ll be able to sort this out for Assen.”