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Ducati's Upper Winglets Subjected to Safety-Related Check After Argentina

The winglets some of the MotoGP teams use on their bikes will come under investigations that will be carried out by Race Direction. Their use has already been regulated, but it appears that these aerodynamic add-ons are in need of more testing and development.
Andrea Iannone's upper left winglet touches Marc Marquez 1 photo
Photo: motogp.com capture
The matter entered the spotlight once more, after Ducati's Andrea Iannone clashed with Repsol Honda's Marc Marquez in the opening laps of the Termas de Rio Hondo race. None of the riders fell and Marquez did not sustain any injury, but strange scuff marks could be observed on his leathers.

Race Direction analyzes the incident depicted in the attached photo where it's clear as daylight that the upper left winglet of the factory Ducati is touching Marc Marquez' back.

Without analyzing the onboard footage, it's impossible to tell whether this incident was the one that caused the rear camera on Marquez' bike to come off and dangle under the bike's tail until entering the pit lane. It may be so, but in any case, the camera did not break off that moment, because we can see it in its rightful place for at least a couple of laps.

Former motorcycle racer and current Safety Advisor for MotoGP, Loris Capirossi, demands clarifications and says that he hand-tested said winglets. Apparently, they were impossible to break by hand and could pose a threat on the track.

"I went to the Ducati garage to check the solidity of the spoiler, I asked them to give me an old fairing and it is in fact impossible to break the winglet. This means that if contact were to be made, they could cause damage. For now, I'm not saying they'll be banned, but it's something we'll discuss in the future. In a collision, they could become dangerous," Capirossi says, quoted by gpone.

The dimensions, positioning and structural aspects of these winglets will most certainly be discussed, but for the moment, it looks like they will remain unchanged.
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