MotoGP Ducati Aero Protests Thrown Out

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The protest lodged by Ducati's MotoGP rivals following Andrea Dovizioso's Qatar Grand Prix victory was made largely for "political" reasons, believes team sporting director Paolo Ciabatti.

Four manufacturers - Honda, Suzuki, KTM and Aprilia - challenged the legality of the rear winglet seen on the Ducati bikes of Dovizioso, Danilo Petrucci and Jack Miller in the opening round of the season. Yamaha did not participate in the protest.

The championship's technical delegates conducted an inspection of the offending part - which can be seen in front of the rear wheel on the bottom of the bike in the picture above - but determined that no rule was broken and therefore rejected the protest.

The four rival manufacturers chose to appeal the decision, and the matter will now be considered further by the FIM Court of Appeals - which is expected to deliver a final verdict within days.

Ciabatti said the situation was reminiscent of how Ducati's rivals protested against the aerodynamic wings it pioneered in late 2015 and '16, which were eventually banned.

The ruling led to a proliferation of complex aerodynamic fairings designed to compensate for the loss of the wings.

"I believe that this is more a political question than a sporting one," Ciabatti told Autosport on Sunday night in Qatar.

"We've seen before how some have tried to restrict the aerodynamic technical innovations introduced by Ducati in the championship.

"And we have already said many times that from our point of view that does not do any good to the championship."

Ciabatti said Ducati is confident of the winglet's legality based on information provided to teams by MotoGP technical director Danny Aldridge in the wake of the final pre-season test.

"We are calm because we know that we have followed the technical regulations," Ciabatti said.

"There is a circular that was distributed among the teams on March 2, which clearly specified how you could use this type of deflector on the back of the bike.

"If we had considered that this element could pose a risk of punishment, we would not have run with it. But it's not like that.

"Yamaha already used a very similar deflector last year in Valencia, to direct water away from the wheel. Anyway, the classification is provisional until there is a resolution."

While the protest was made on the grounds of the winglet potentially providing an aerodynamic benefit, Ducati insists its sole function is to cool the rear wheel.

Aldridge told Autosport that he was already aware of some rivals' unhappiness about the Ducati winglet, but that his team could not investigate it until a protest was officially made.

 

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The arguments continue.




MotoGP: Court of appeal reject protests against Ducati spoiler
Published: 21 March 2019


The FIM Court of Appeal have ruled that Ducati’s spoiler device, trialled in the opening round of the 2019 MotoGP season, is legal – despite protests filed by Aprilia, Honda, Suzuki and KTM in the aftermath of Andrea Dovizioso’s win at the Qatar Grand Prix two weeks ago. Declaring the provisional result final and allowing Ducati to use the spoiler in future races, they ruled that there was no case to answer for.
Speaking in the statement, the FIM stated:

During the MotoGP race at the season opener in Qatar on 10 March 2019, technical protests concerning the use of a device on the Ducati machine were lodged with the FIM MotoGP Stewards by Team Suzuki Ecstar against #43 Jack Miller (Ducati), by Repsol Honda Team against #4 Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati), and by Red Bull KTM Factory Team and Aprilia Racing Team Gresini against #9 Danilo Petrucci (Ducati).
The protesting teams considered that the device was primarily an aerodynamic device and therefore not compliant with the MotoGP technical regulations. After a hearing, the four protests were rejected.
The same four teams then lodged appeals against the MotoGP Stewards’ decision to the MotoGP Appeal Stewards and a further hearing was conducted. The MotoGP Appeal Stewards determined that further technical evaluation was required and that this was not possible under the circumstances. They therefore decided to refer the matter to the MotoGP Court of Appeal in accordance with Art. 3.3.3.2 of the applicable Regulations.
Following a hearing in Mies on Friday 22 March, the MotoGP Court of Appeal handed down its decision today 26 March and the parties (the four appellants, Ducati and the FIM) have been duly notified. On these grounds, the MotoGP Court of Appeal rules that:

• The appeals filed by Team Aprilia, Team Suzuki, Team Honda and Team KTM are admissible.
• The provisional race results are confirmed and are declared as final.
• The request to declare the Device illegal and ban its use in future races is rejected.

An appeal against this decision may be lodged before the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS) in Lausanne Switzerland within 5 days pursuant to Article 3.9 of the 2019 FIM World Championship Grand Prix Regulations.

The row erupted after Dovizioso sported Ducati technical boss Gigi Dall’Igna’s latest invention, a spoiler fitted to the swinging arm of the Desmosedici. Not explicitly banned by the rules but open to interpretation – and apparently affected by conflicting advice from MotoGP’s technical bosses - it opened a can of worms after the first race of the year.
Launched by a protest filed by Gresini Aprilia, Repsol Honda, Ecstar Suzuki and Red Bull KTM after the race at the Losail circuit, the matter was first rejected, then appealed and passed on to the Court of Appeals by the FIM Appeals Stewards in Qatar, led by Bennetts British Superbike race director Stuart Higgs.

The court met in Switzerland on Friday and promised that a decision would be reached before this weekend's second round of the championship in Argentina, with teams jetting off to South America today.