This is the big news of this first of the two days of testing at Portimao, the last, as we recall, of the off-season, and for once it does not come to us from Ducati. On the other hand, the audacity remains Italian since it is stamped Aprilia and the area of intervention remains, still and always, aerodynamics. Here are the “Fork Wings” and this is how it works…
Aleix Espargaró had warned Sepang thatAprilia would bring some great new features for these two days of testing Portimao and it is clear, after this past Saturday in the Algarve, that Noale's men kept their promises. We don't know what happened on the engine side, but at the level of the ailerons, we saw new appendages appear. An evolution of the aero pack which wants “ beaucoup » improve the behavior of the RS-GP.
This is how the “captain” Aleix Espargaró rated this new feature. He comments: “ these are great aerodynamic innovations that we were not able to test in Malaysia, and the other factories will not have time to copy them “, declared the Spaniard. “ They work hard in Noale, they have brought a lot of innovations in terms of aerodynamics, some will like it and others less, but it's effective ».
Portimao: the “Fork Wings” follow the movement of the fork
So here are the “Fork Wings”. Why this name? Because they follow the rotational movement of the fork. The Venetian manufacturer proves to be a pioneer in this area in MotoGP. These are appendages attached directly to the fork of the RS-GP to optimize airflow. That's not all, because on theAprilia, which still has the 2022 livery of the fairing, a new spoiler has also appeared on the swingarm…
On Sky Sports, Roman Albesian, the technical director said these words relayed by Motoracing : " the motorcycles in the stands are all in the 2023 version, it is now approved. We make a lot of comparisons, between aerodynamics, electronics and the engine, to complete everything in 5 days of testing, between here and Sepang. It's difficult. We need a lot of laps because some new components require miles to verify performance and reliability ».
