WSBK – Penalty at Monza: the rififi continues between Biaggi and Ciabatti – The response of the big boss of the World Superbike

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Penalty in Monza: the rififi continues between Biaggi and Ciabatti

WSBK - Penalty at Monza: the rififi continues between Biaggi and Ciabatti - The response of the big boss of the World Superbike

As Max Biaggi saw his first victory of the 2011 season slip away due to a penalty ten days ago, the Italian rider and his many fans have struggled with the management’s decision.. The big boss of the WSBK, Paolo Ciabatti, answered them.

The World Superbike big boss’s response

Please take a few minutes of your time to read this letter, in which I would like to explain the events that took place in Monza during the weekend of May 8.

First of all, Monza is like no other circuit, and the Superbike has to share it with another hugely important event which is Formula 1. It is thus quite simply not possible to have areas of clearances in gravel in the baffles, because of the incompatibility of this type of development with the Formula 1..

The only exception to this is the Ascari Variant.

As you can imagine, if a driver misses his entry into Ascari and ends up in gravel, he falls or loses a lot of time to get back on the track. It is therefore not necessary to adopt special measures for this chicane..

The issue of the first chicane (Prima Variante) and the Roggia chicane is different, due to the asphalt clearances. For the past three years, white lines have been painted in these areas of Monza. The lines take the form of a "tunnel" ending in a "path" about a meter wide which, if followed by a pilot, forces him to slow down and return to the track out of the path. natural used by other pilots arriving normally.

The FIM homologation of the track specifically excludes the presence of barriers in the chicane clearance zone.

The race management, of which I am part with Igor Eškinja and Giulio Bardi, thus decided for this reason to invite all the pilots to an extraordinary briefing on Thursday afternoon to explain to all (those who have already raced at Monza as well as those new to the circuit) the correct way to get back to the track in the event of an error in one of these two chicanes.

The briefing lasted almost an hour. It was explained to the pilots, with the help of two giant pictures of the baffles on the walls of the hall, that if they made a mistake, the only way, without exception, to get back on track was to use the " tunnel ", otherwise a ride-through penalty would sanction them. We also explained that it was forbidden to save time by cutting the baffles, both in a timed way and at the level of the positions in the race, and that raising the arm would make it possible to return their position to the pilots having been unintentionally passed.

Many pilots asked specific questions and we repeated several times that no pilot returning to the track without respecting the path painted on the tarmac would escape a penalty by ride-through, which is the only sanction validated in the regulations by the FIM for this type of infringement.

Biaggi was not present at the briefing due to private commitments, but was represented by his team manager of Team Aprilia, Mr. Francesco Guidotti.

Throughout the weekend, we used the same criteria for all the drivers who cut the chicanes, regardless of the category..

These are the facts.

I probably won’t be able to convince many of you, but I will at least have explained to you as clearly and honestly as possible how things went..

I want to end on a personal note. Sometimes consistency and correctness force difficult and painful decisions in life. For me, Max is not only a great champion, he is also a smart and sane person. He is above all a friend, with whom I have shared many moments, both pleasant and difficult, on and off the track. I let you imagine how difficult it was for me with the other members of the race management to make this decision.

thank you for your attention,
Paolo Ciabatti

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