MotoGP: A Third Class Within A Class In MotoGP?

Paul Carruthers | March 6, 2014

Carmelo Ezpeleta says there will be a Factory 2 class in MotoGP.

Photography by Gold & Goose
The suddenly confusing world of MotoGP is about to get a bit more confusing with a new class slated to be run within the class – Factory 2.

According to an interview with Dorna boss Carmelo Ezpeleta on the website motor.as.com, a third class within the class will become reality on March 11 when he gets it approved. That means there will be the “Factory” class, the “Open” class and the “Factory 2” class. Confused yet?

The new “Factory 2” class is basically Dorna’s answer to Ducati declaring last week that it was going to run in the “Open” class, a class that will allow the Italian manufacturer to continue to develop its Desmosedici GP13 over the course of the season because development in that class isn’t’ frozen. It also allows the Ducatis and other “Open” class bikes to use more fuel, softer tires and have more engines available during the year. As long as they use the Dorna provided ECU from Magneti Marelli. Should you choose to run any software that you want, use less fuel, harder tires and have your engine development frozen over the course of the season, you are in the “Factory” class. You are Repsol Honda, MoviStar Yamaha and Monster Tech 3 Yamaha.

So here’s the answer to preventing an “Open” bike class from stumbling upon too much success: If such a bike wins a race, finishes second twice or third three times during the 2014 season (i.e., the most likely candidates for success – the Ducatis or last year’s Yamaha M1s that the NGM Forward Racing team of Aleix Espargaro and Colin Edwards are riding), they will be placed in the “Factory 2” class and their fuel will be cut from 24 to 22.5 liters and their engine limits will be reduced from 12 to nine (the Factory class has limits of 20 liters and five engines).
Stay tuned.