On the sidelines of the Aragón Grand Prix, a press conference was held where the technical representatives of each manufacturer were gathered, namely Davide Barana for Ducati, Kazutoshi Seki for Yamaha, Romano Albesiano for Aprilia, Sebastian Risse for KTM, Ken Kawauchi for Suzuki and Takeo Yokoyama for Honda.
On the exercise program, above all, say nothing other than what has already been reported in the press while promising beneficial future development in all areas. It's usual and understandable and it went like this until our colleague from Ziggo Sport broached the subject of the ride height device, the motorcycle lowering system invented by Ducati which will be banned at the front. next year, unanimously by the other manufacturers on the promoter's proposal.
Awkward silence in the room, no one wanting to speak for a long time, until the presenter asks David Barana to begin.
David Barana, Ducati: “I don't want to, I don't like to talk about this story too much because you know what happened with these systems. We were the first to introduce the first system for departures, first for the departure procedure, so the others followed. We therefore developed the second phase of the system, the rear system, which is a dynamic system that allows the motorcycle to be lowered during operation. And the others followed! The next phase was to extend this functionality also to the front of the bike, and at one point someone came up proposing to ban these systems from the bike. It was clear that the bike was already being used by one manufacturer, Ducati, and at that point Ducati said to the other manufacturers "hey, I use this kind of bike that you are going to ban". And five out of six manufacturers have decided to ban: you can imagine which are the five and which are the other. What I'm saying is that the five manufacturers simply exercised their right, everything was in order, they didn't steal anything, but if I look at this story, I can say that it's not at all a very nice demonstration of fair play, because instead of fighting to progress to develop motorcycles, it is much easier to ban something that only one person has. It's my point of view. That's all. »
Summoned to react, Kazutoshi Seki, for Yamaha, is brief and exonerates itself by partially shifting the responsibility for the ban to the authorities: “It seems that this did not happen against Ducati, but what I understand is that it came from the organizers. We then considered all the factors and agreed with the proposal. This is my understanding. »
The image is sufficiently eloquent to understand that David Barana not really convinced...
Roman Albesian, for Aprilia, is then the most categorical: “Our overall thinking on these systems is to, if possible, ban them all as quickly as possible. These are just complications, something that never reached production, it's something related to the regulations that prohibit the possibility of making a real ride height device. We are the first manufacturer to have introduced the holeshot device at the front, only for starts. But anyway, our philosophy is to avoid this kind of development which, in our opinion, is not useful for production motorcycles. »
Sebastian Risse, for KTM, takes the opportunity to also touch on aerodynamics: “We believe we are going faster and faster and we are reaching the point where safety becomes a big concern. And we see that there is a correlation between technologies like this and aerodynamics. For this reason, we opted to ban what we could ban. We understand very well that from a sporting point of view it is difficult when a technology is already implemented. At first, when this topic was brought up, I think the people who did it weren't aware of it, but of course we also had to find a solution to give Ducati time to gain an advantage before 'he is banned, and I think finally we have found a correct solution for this situation. »
Takeo Yokoyama, for Honda, visibly forgets that they introduced the seamless gearbox in MotoGP (the subject will be discussed later): “We have always discussed, within the MSMA, between the six manufacturers. We discuss any topic peacefully. I think it's quite normal, when there are six manufacturers, which is quite a lot, that everyone can have a different opinion. So for the ride height device the subject was on the table from the organizers, and we had a decent discussion. For our part, for Honda, we did some studies and we thought that this was not going to be introduced on production motorcycles in the future, which is a big reason why HRC is present in competition. So for our part, we decided to vote to ban, as had been proposed by the organizers. At that point it was five to one, so it was decided. I think the way the procedure was carried out was correct enough. At Honda we always stick to our philosophy, and one of them is to ask whether it is possible to add it to production motorcycles or not. That's all. »
Ken Kawauchi, for Suzuki, concludes briefly: “My opinion is similar: One of the objectives of our participation in MotoGP is to improve the production motorcycles. At the moment, this technology is too far from production motorcycles, and therefore it does not make much sense. »
Atmosphere in the room, a clever mix of feigned innocence and forced smiles...
In summary, Ducati is clearly still struggling with the fact that one of their technological advances has been banned by all other manufacturers. Certainly, the latter only approved a proposal "from the organizers", but the latter, which must in fact be the technical department of the promoter, were more than likely requested in this sense by one or more manufacturers.
