Of the four complainants, it is the first manufacturer to give its opinion on the rejection of the complaint technical decision against Ducati by the FIM Court of Appeal. It is KTM who, through the voice of his sports director Pete Beirer, nevertheless remains sober. What is certain is that the Mattighofen firm takes note of this judgment and will not take the challenge any further. While regretting what it will imply in the future development of a MotoGP…
KTM, like Aprilia, Honda and Suzuki were therefore dismissed in their appeal against the first decision of the officials who had, in Qatar, rejected their complaint against the deflector mounted on the swingarm of the Ducati GP19. “ We will not comment further on this decision at this time. " commented Pit Beer. " We have a different opinion from what was presented, but we take note of the judges' decision. We wanted to clarify certain things and, from this point of view, we were satisfied. Now, head to Argentina for a new weekend of competition ».
He still specifies… “ We were told after submitting our complaint that we could have come forward two weeks before the Qatar Grand Prix. But during the tests there were thousands of different new parts brought by all the manufacturers. It was impossible to know what each one was used for, or how it was made. We met with the other manufacturers at Losail and agreed that there was reason to wonder about this Ducati part regarding its function. To cool the rear tire or provide aerodynamic downforce? Four manufacturers opted for this last possibility ».
« We wanted to clarify things for the future through this complaint. It is also important for us to see its excesses in terms of aerodynamic development be contained in the future. If you enter such a prop in your data, you find that it creates a certain pressure and support »Insists Beirer on speedweek. " This is currently the case with each plastic appendage that we see flourishing on the sides of motorcycles. Even the smallest one. Look at all the fins there are on a Formula 1 front wing. Each one has its influence. But we don't want to go in that direction ».
It will undoubtedly be necessary, even if constrained and forced. Aprilia, for example, announced that it would release its own deflector in Austin, a round which will follow this weekend's in Argentina.
