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Yamaha says Ducati rules break hurt small MotoGP teams

Ducati's rules break hurt MotoGP's leading non-factory teams in 2014, reckons Yamaha chief Lin Jarvis

At the start of the year Ducati controversially chose to run to 'Open' regulations, allowing greater development scope plus tyre and fuel advantages in exchange for running a standard ECU.

Yamaha and Honda's satellite teams Tech 3, Gresini and LCR remained under 'Factory' rules, and Jarvis believes they were deprived of chances to star because of Ducati's dispensations.

"For the factory teams it's not a big issue, because with four riders at the front, Ducati's advantage has not really affected the championship," said Jarvis.

"I think it's made it a bit difficult for some of the satellite teams to maintain motivation.

"There are some circumstances where their riders are performing exceptionally well and they may be beaten, whether that's for a pole position or in the race, and I think that's quite tough to be restricted when you're a satellite Factory team."

But Honda boss Livio Suppo believes the awkward situation was worthwhile to ensure Ducati remained in MotoGP.

"As Honda, we always agreed that this is competition and it's good to have many manufacturers," he said.

"The more manufacturers that are here, the happier we are.

"We totally understood that last year the results of Ducati were not enough to make everybody happy, and the aim was to increase the chance that Ducati will be in this championship for a very long time, because Ducati is a strong brand and of great value to this championship.

"I think it was correct to give some advantage, and I think it's still reasonable. The level of performance is getting closer.

"If they start winning 10 races in a row, we need to think about it."

The split rules situation is only set to run for one more season before a wholesale switch to standard electronics brings everyone back on the same page for 2016 - a situation Jarvis reckons cannot come soon enough.

"I think the key point is to end up as soon as possible with one set of rules," he said.

"At the moment we have three different classifications and I don't think that's good either for the participants or the spectators."

MotoGP has operated to split rules since 2012, when the Open class's predecessor CRT (Claiming Rule Teams) was introduced to encourage new teams to run lower-spec machinery after grids fell as low as 15 at times in 2011.

Next year's MotoGP field will feature 25 bikes, with Suzuki and Aprilia reviving their factory programmes, and KTM is also set to join in 2017.

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