The official Superbike tests took place from March 31 to April 01 in Barcelona, and each team entered in this World Championship of motorcycles derived from the series carried out development work during these sunny and fruitful test days at Montmeló. Many new features were seen on the track, more or less close to being adopted in racing.
Like their MotoGP prototypes, the Borgo Panigale factory offers numerous technical developments on the Superbike machines: the Aruba.it Racing, Motocorsa Racing and Barni Racing teams have all made improvements to their Panigale V4Rs.
We had already seen Scott Redding's Ducati equipped with these Brembo brake calipers at Misano., whose design is reminiscent of the GP4, used in MotoGP since last year. It seems that the British driver was able to test them in warmer climatic conditions, where the entire braking system is put to the test. This helps ensure consistent braking performance on brake-demanding circuits.
Scott Redding and Michael Rinaldi, the 2 official Ducati Aruba.it riders, do not have the same riding styles and therefore have adapted cockpits. Above, Scott Redding does not use a saddle wedge, his saddle is very close to that of a stock machine.
Unlike his teammate, Italian driver Michael Rinaldi prefers to be equipped with it, and the least we can say is that it is prominent. This allows it to be well positioned when accelerating. The advantage with this foam part is that it can be easily modified according to the pilot's wishes.
The Panigale V4R of Axel Bassani, from Team Motocorsa, is equipped with a new complete Termignoni system in titanium.
The exhaust outlets for the rear cylinders are integrated under the saddle, those for the front cylinders are on the right side of the machine. This makes it possible to distribute the masses while working on the acoustics.
Finally, the Ducati of the Aruba.it team are equipped with Akrapovic exhausts. This diversity allows the Borgo Panigale factory to test the effectiveness of various suppliers.
The Ducati of Tito Rabat, who plays for Team Barni, is supplied by SC-Project. The team also switched from Showa suspension to Öhlins suspension, just like the official structure.
After the Brembo calipers, one of the biggest changes on the factory Ducati is this new single-swingarm, tested by Scott Redding.
Photos: WorldSBK
