Ducati reserve judgement on Dorna's WSB takeover

Ducati management believe it is too early to make a serious judgement on the full implications of Dorna’s recent takeover of the World Superbike championship.

The Spanish-based rights owners of MotoGP now control World Superbikes having acquired the rival four-stroke series from Infront Motor Sports in a recent deal that sent shockwaves through the racing world.

Dorna boss Carmelo Ezpeleta held meetings with senior Honda and Yamaha management during last weekend’s Twin Ring Motegi race in Japan to outline his vision for the future direction of MotoGP and World Superbikes.

The Spaniard is expected to hold face-to-face talks with senior Ducati management at the season’s final race in Valencia next month.

But Ducati boss Filippo Preziosi said it was too early to judge what impact the Dorna takeover of World Superbikes will have when he spoken to MCN in a telephone call from Japan to Bologna.

He said: “This is something that was decided by the owners of MotoGP and World Superbikes, so we can’t say nothing about that. From our side as we are involved in both we can say that the organisation is very professional and both did a very good job in their championships.

“To be more precise we need to wait for the decisions that will be taken in the future because now we don’t know what they will be, both from a commercial or technical side. So it is impossible to make any judgement.”

Preziosi denied that the outcome of the deal meant Dorna now had too much power and he said: “I don’t think it is a matter of power. Dorna is the organiser and I assume that when you own something you are interested in doing the best for each championship, and that’s what I expect Dorna to do.”

During an exclusive interview with MCN in Japan last weekend, Ezpeleta said his initial thoughts on the future of World Superbikes would be that the technical rules will change to make the series more like Superstock, with minimal tuning allowed.

Preziosi though said it was too early for Ducati to give an opinion on any potential regulation changes.

He added: “I think we have to wait to see exactly which kind of technical rules are proposed for that championship and based on that we will give our opinion. It is important that we know what the proposals are and without that it is not right to give any judgement.”