FIM apologise to KTM over KERS ban

The FIM has secretly apologised to KTM after IRTA claimed its energy-recovering KERS system was in breach of the rules.

IRTA made the ruling on 28 March at Jerez (the day before race day), but appears to have relented when pressed by KTM lawyers’ appeals.

In a letter to the team marked ‘Confidential’ the FIM acknowledged there was no rule excluding KERS – which gave KTM’s 125 a 2.6bhp boost for a few seconds a lap by storing energy generated under hard braking.

Team technical director Harald Bartol says: “I would never implement something that was not in the rules.

“So I wrote to them and two weeks ago they replied saying, yes, sorry, it is in the rules, everything is fine.

“But you need to go to the MotoGP Commission to ask for permission. So I say to them I will throw away my rule book, what is the point in it?”

Bartol says KTM has since abandoned the technology fearing if rules don’t get them the new culture of cost-cutting will.

“They try to give racing a new green image, and then they the ban technology to do it. They never ask about the cost.

“They never ask how it worked. Then after the race in Jerez they came to inspect us to see if we were using it. I said to them, you would not even know where to look for it.

“They are destroying young engineers with this conservatism.”