Honda boss angry at new engine penalty

Honda boss Shuhei Nakamoto has spoken of his ‘disappointment’ at recent changes to MotoGP engine durability rules.

Cost-cutting rules introduced for the final seven races of 2009 meant riders could only use five engines from the Brno GP onwards.

Any rider using more than the allocated number would be punished by a 10-point deduction from their world championship tally.

But in Estoril last weekend, new sanctions were unveiled with a rider using more than five engines before the end of the season punished by starting a race from the back of the grid.

A constructor too will also have 10-points deducted.

And is the constructor penalty that has upset HRC, which supplies six bikes on the MotoGP grid and is therefore more susceptible to the new penalty.

Yamaha has also fallen foul of the new rule too and is understood to be deeply unhappy with the penalty change. The Japanese factory should have wrapped up the all-important constructor title with Jorge Lorenzo’s Portuguese GP victory earlier this month.

But Yamaha can’t celebrate with the potential for losing ten points if any of one of its four rider’s has to use an extra YZR-M1 motor in the final three races.

Nakamoto told MCN: “I am really disappointed by this. Only Honda is supplying six bikes, so we have more chance to have a problem. Maybe we have to cut back our involvement.”