Ducati considering a switch to MotoGP's open class in bid to move up the grid Ducati will test its bikes in Open configuration at Sepang. Pic: Mark Stewart Source: News Limited DUCATI is hoping a shock change to its MotoGP program will help take the struggling Italian team back to the front of the field. Reports out of Italy suggest the team is considering running all of its bikes in MotoGP's 'Open' class instead of as a 'Factory' team. The Open class is the new designation for the former 'Claiming Rules Team' category, as part of the changes to MotoGP's 2014 regulations. Under the rules Open bikes are allowed to use 24 litres of fuel compared to the Factory teams' 20, but must use an electronics package specified by MotoGP while Factory teams can develop their own, tailor-made software. Another advantage is that Factory teams are restricted to using just five engines per bike throughout the season and are not allowed to develop them between the start and end of the year, while Open teams are allowed to go through 12 and can upgrade their engines in the quest for performance. The CRT bikes also benefited from special soft-compound Bridgestone tyres over the Factory bikes in 2013, although Bridgestone have yet to confirm if they will again produce them for the Open class in the new season. Initially, Ducati had only planned to run one of its four bikes in the Open class, Yonny Hernandez's Pramac bike, while the machines of Andrea Dovisioso, new signing Cal Crutchlow, and Andrea Iannone would run under the Factory regulations. Dovizioso didn't have much to smile about in season 2013. Dovisioso confirmed to Italian media that Ducati will compare their 2014 bikes in both Open and Factory specification at the first MotoGP test of the year in Malaysia next month. "There has been no decision," Dovisioso told gpone.net, "but in Sepang, once we've tested, we will decide which road to take." Ducati's notoriously troublesome Desmosedeci has struggled to reach the MotoGP podium in recent seasons, and has not won a race since Casey Stoner departed for Honda at the end of 2009. MotoGP's winter break ends with testing at Malaysia's Sepang circuit on February 4-6.