MotoGP™ Director of Technology Corrado Cecchinelli has spoken at the CTR ECU test ahead of the Official MotoGP™ Test in Sepang about the new Magneti Marelli system and how he feels it will help bridge the performance gap.

He told motogp.com: “Engine management is a big part of the trick here, so with a single ECU, a common ECU, we try to equalize performance and also reduce the costs, because all of them wanting to use our same software can contribute to the evolution of the software. Basically at no cost because we are in charge of it.”


And whilst the adaptation of the ECU is still in its early phases, Cecchinelli is confident that it will significantly help bridge the gap to the factory teams: “I think it will reduce the gap considerably. Not because it will actually lower the performance of the top teams, but because this is a very powerful ECU. Hopefully it will raise the level of the smaller teams, which don’t have big R&D structures to develop their own software.”

With regards to how soon the benefits will be felt he concluded: “I think it will be better than what all the teams already have, by mid-season this year.”