What is the purpose of the rear wing seen on the Aprilia at Mugello? 

On Friday of the Italian GP on the Mugello circuit, one of the two RS-GPs of Lorenzo Savadori, Aprilia test rider, was equipped with a spoiler placed on the saddle backrest. The Noale firm is working hard in this area. Moreover, Aleix Espargaro confided during the weekend that Aprilia deploys enormous resources for wind tunnel tests. 

But what can this room be used for? “This wing is a part that arrived at Mugello,” recalls Antonio Jimenez, chief mechanic of Espargaro in the Aprilia team, in the show After Sunday. Since Savadori was there as a wildcard, we made him try. These are things that must work very well and for which we must draw as many conclusions as possible on circuits like Mugello or Barcelona which have straight lines of more than 350 km/h. The aerodynamic effect is therefore enormous. Savadori tried it, I believe, in FP1. »

I spy some new aero! 👀@lorysava32 has an interesting winglet on the tail unit of his RS-GP! 🤩#MotoGP | #ItalianGP 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/6dHuV5Ak0V

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) May 27, 2022

Before validating this part, the factory must still evaluate its usefulness on other tracks like this weekend in Barcelona. “We extracted data, we drew conclusions and we had meetings,” says Jimenez. We saw that it was perhaps not yet the time to pass it on to the official drivers, especially during a Grand Prix. We have a test on Monday following Barcelona and certainly we will use it with Viñales and Aleix. »

This spoiler aims to increase the aerodynamic load on the rear. “We do this at very high speeds. From 250 km/h, this already has an effect, explains the Belgian. It's not just about straights, but also about corner entries. So you may need to rebalance all the settings on the bike. You have to know what you're doing, the effect it brings before using it in GP, ​​and how to adjust it with the rest of the elements, like the suspensions, the chassis. It's very important and it's very delicate. It can work, but you have to know how and when to use it. »

Photo: Thomas Morsellino