Undeniably, aerodynamics is one of the major subjects that will drive this 2023 MotoGP season. The area was awakened by Ducati a few years ago with the appearance of wings, then more recently with the beginnings of ground effect applied to the motorbike.
But Aprilia is not to be outdone and has worked hard, to the point of today becoming a precursor copied by everyone, at least during pre-season testing.
In this phenomenon which is concentrated on the sides of the fairing, two schools clash. The first, initiated by Ducati, captures part of the lateral air to force it under the lower fairing using two banana-shaped scoops.
The second, developed by Aprilia, uses the principle of the flat bottom of a car by widening the bottom of the fairing so that it skims the track and produces support during high-speed turns. This is the principle of the diffuser on competition cars (venturi effect to accelerate the flow then widening of the virtual duct to create support). Note in passing the new fins that appeared at the bottom of the calipers today…
During pre-season testing, everyone watches everyone and everyone copies everyone, or almost. This is how today, during the second day of the MotoGP test in Sepang, Yamaha and KTM tried banana-shaped scoops, certainly small in size but thus leaving Aprilia as the only manufacturer not having tested this principle (to our knowledge), the opposite, since Honda seems to have adopted them in a much larger but openwork version.
About them, fabio quartararo said : " It's a small difference, not a big one, but of course you're a little slower if you have the air intakes on the side panels. I should have found out (if it's better or not), but it wasn't easy to see. On Sunday, of course, I want to test this aero package with new tires to be able to say 100% whether it's better or not. »
Conversely, everyone has at least tried the widened lower fairing initiated by the Noale firm, Ducati included.
2023 will teach us who ultimately chose what during the first Grand Prix of the season, unless we see a mix of the two approaches appear by then...
