English
Italiano
Ride-height devices are in the line of fire for Dorna, which would like to ban them. It was Ducati that first introduced this system, first on the rear only for the race start, evolving it to be able to use it also during the laps, then it did the same for the front. The latter solution will be banned starting this season, after the MSMA (the MotoGP manufacturers' association) voted for its elimination (with 5 votes in favour out of 6, i.e., everyone except Ducati).
Now, however, the championship organizers would also like to ban the rear lowering device. This was declared to crash.net by Corrado Cecchinelli, the championship's Director of Technology: "It is our intention to ask the manufacturers to consider banning the rear as well, given a proper timeframe".
When he proposed the same thing for the front, it was "preventative action" because at that time only Ducati had it. “We still believe it is, in principle from the technical perspective, the correct thing to do because it's an effective way to control performance,” explained Cecchinelli.
For the engineer, these regulatory adjustments are necessary and normal, because manufacturers are always trying to innovate, and the standards must therefore be updated. On the other hand, anyone who spends resources on a system that is then banned will undoubtedly not accept it in the best possible way.
“We always try to find a compromise but sometimes, by doing our job, we make someone angry - admitted Cecchinelli - There's always the question of being fair to those who invent something you weren’t expecting and giving them a correct reward for having been better than the others. But you have to balance that with the fact you didn't really want what they are doing, to be done”.
So, when might we see the rear lowering device disappear? Not in the short term. “We don’t want to think about any major changes or big revolution until 2027, so we are moving in small incremental steps until then, unless everybody agrees.”
