"Ben is confident enough in his and Yamaha's potential not to push for an extra test... He will have enough time to be ready for the first race of 2010"
Monster Yamaha Tech 3 boss Herve Poncharal has confirmed that Ben Spies will not have a special 'rookie test' and expressed disappointment that the extra track outings were created.
By the end of this week all four 250cc stars stepping up to the
MotoGP class in 2010 will have taken part in an additional three-day 'rookie test', not available to the present premier-class field.
Suzuki's new signing Alvaro Bautista and Aspar Ducati's Hector Barbera rode last month during private tests at Estoril and
Jerez respectively, while Honda riders Marco Simoncelli and Hiroshi Aoyama are presently on track at Sepang in Malaysia.
But arguably the most high profile 2010 rookie, newly crowned World Superbike champion Spies, will not have the extra track time. Poncharal, also president of Teams' association IRTA, explained why:
“Honestly sometimes I don't understand people,” the Frenchman told
Crash.net. “Some people who had, for quite a while, not recognised that there was a growing financial problem [in MotoGP] then suddenly reacted in a kind of panic early this year.
“But we calmed things down and there were a lot of decisions taken to save money for 2009 and 2010.
“We deleted Friday morning practice and stopped all but two post-race tests, we reduced costs with the single tyre and since the Czech Republic we reduced the number of engines. And for 2010 we had three tests of two days instead of three days.
“So we thought 'okay, we are all going in the same direction'. Then we started to hear 'why don't we give the rookies more tests and make the tests three days?'.
“There was a lot of pressure, a lot of lobbying by some people, so the decision was that until the end of 2009 a rookie could be a test rider. But from the 1st of January any contracted
MotoGP rider cannot be nominated as a test rider.
“We always try to bend the rules. Is it good or not? For me I think it is not good, but other people think it is. I am a democrat so I follow the majority rule.
