It's a new week of tension behind the scenes that MotoGP approaches after opening its season with a Grand Prix race of Qatar exciting. But the sporting verdict highlighted by the noble mutual congratulations of the duelists was put on hold by a settling of scores between manufacturers which will be settled on the green carpet. The cause is a deflector installed by Ducati on the swingarm of its motorcycle which provokes the ire of KTM, Suzuki, Aprilia and Honda. The battle of experts has begun and the burden of proof on a question of support is blowing a bad wind over the category. For Gigi Dall'Igna, the man through whom the scandal would have happened, everything is nevertheless simple to demonstrate...
The protesters would be in possession of scholarly data offered by simulations from wind tunnels. By this measure, the deflector would not only cool the rear tire. It would also cause illicit aerodynamic downforce. This is the Gordian knot that officials will have to resolve before the Argentine Grand Prix scheduled for the end of March.
For Gigi Dall'Igna, the situation is clear: the controversial rear wing, with which Andrea Dovizioso, Danilo Petrucci et Jack Miller competed in the race at Losail, complies with the rules because it only serves to protect the rear tire from dirt and water in the event of a wet track, and it cools it, thus extending its longevity.
In comments relayed by speedweek, he declares : " guidelines given by the technical director allow the use of a spoiler attached to the swingarm, which serves as a water and dirt deflector and cools the rear wheel. It is important that the objective of our rear wing is not to generate an aerodynamic effect ».
« The objective is to cool the tire as much as possible, this is the objective of this system that we have developed », assures the Italian. “ Obviously the performance is better, not because it generates downforce, but because it cools the rear tire. In all recent races, rear tire management has decided victory or defeat, which was also the case in Qatar ».
Dall'Igna goes on to explain that the cooling effect is relatively easy to explain: “ we don't have to go into the wind tunnel, it is much easier to prove that our system is performing its function. We've done track testing that has a lot more to do with reality, and we've gathered a lot of data showing that the rear tire temperature is significantly lower. So it’s relatively easy to prove that our system is doing exactly what we want – and it cools the rear tire ».
