Honda boss Suppo calls for ease in engine restrictions

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Honda boss Livio Suppo has called for MotoGP organisers to look at lifting the ban put in place on in-season engine development, as Honda continue to struggle with an under-accelerating engine.

Currently, teams are restricted to seven identical engines, presented at the beginning of the season in Qatar to technical stewards and immediately sealed shut.

But peaking to MCN after Sunday’s race in Le Mans, Suppo admitted that while Honda’s problem at the minute is one of their own making, he believes that the rules restricting in-season development need to be reconsidered for the future.

Originally introduced as a cost-saving measure to limit the amount of development work undertaken by the factories, Suppo told MCN that he believes that some sort of concession needs to be made to keep racing close.

“Nowadays there are not so many days of testing. We introduced a new engine this year, but we just didn’t have enough days to test it – basically we chose the engine in Jerez in November.

“Personally, for the good of the show – and this time it is Honda but next time it could be Ducati or Yamaha – it would be better to have at least one upgrade of the engine during the season.”

For the full story on Honda’s disastrous weekend in France, see today May 11th’s Motorcycle News.

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