“A nice surprise”: Raul Fernandez on riding MotoGP bike without wings

“It's amazing... zero physically"

Raul Fernandez, without wings, 2024 Australian MotoGP
Raul Fernandez, without wings, 2024 Australian MotoGP

168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Raul Fernandez took advantage of an exception to the MotoGP rul🔜es and raced without wings on his Trackhouse Aprilia last Sunday at Phillip Island.

While the strict Moto𓆉GP homologation regulations🐬 mean fairing design can only be modified once per season, ‘At certain circuits, for safety reasons it will be permitted for teams to remove the side pods from the aero body.’

Phillip Island is the only track ☂on the present calendar where removal of the aero is allowed, due ꦅto past concerns over strong crosswinds.

The wind🗹 was not a significant issue last Sunday, and some riders believe the extra downforce helps with stability in such conditions, but Fernandez and Aprilia still chose to remove his sidepods to gather data on how the RS-GP performed without aero.

The experiment didn’t start well with♓ Fernandez plummeting from sixth on the grid to 17th. But he then worked his way back up to ninth before losing a place to Fabio Quartararo in the closing stages.

Fer♌nandez was less than three-seconds behind the fully winged RS-GP24 of Maverick Vinales, in eighth placeღ.

“It was ꦅa nice🐼 surprise,” Fernandez said at Buriram in Thailand on Thursday. “We understood a lot of things about the bike, that now we're struggling [with] a lot. So it was a good test for the future.”

The Spaniard confessed to being surprised at how competitive ℱ🐎he was.

“I did 5ಌ laps in the morning with no wings and then I was directly into the race. The first lap I was 17th because our start is not the best thing in the bike. But after that, the pace was really good, really competitive,” he said.

“I saw all that 🐷almost all the race the distance to the top 4 was the same, so the pace was more or less to be there. With the bad start, I couldn't fight there, but the pace was to be there. So really happy.”

Fernandez,🤡 who made his MotoGP debut with Tech3 KTM in 2022, ha🔥d never ridden a MotoGP bike without wings before.

“It was like a joke in the middle of the season to s𒀰ay, ‘maybe in a test we can try the bike with😼 no wings’. But at the end, in Phillip Island, it was not a joke!” he said.

“It's different to ride the bike. Because of that, lap by lap I felt better. And my last part of the race was quite f♛ast.”

While aero helps with anti-wheelie, turning and braking performance, Fernandez said that 𒆙without the downforce parts the physical effort required to change direction was “zero”

“Always after the race weekend and the long race, I feel super tired. But I finished the [Phillip Island] race and I told the teജam, ‘I can do another race if you want!’

“It's amazing. It's 'zero' physically, the bike and that is something that maybe we need to work on more for the future [aero desig♏n].”

Aprilia test rider and stand-in team-mate Lorenzo Savadori revealed he has also tried the RS-GꦑP without wings, during private testing.

The Italian expl🍌ain♉ed that the fast and flowing Phillip Island layout means the usual aero benefits don’t apply.

“Phillip Island is a special trac𒁃k, unique, a lot of high speed. There isn’t a hard braking. In a normal tra🐼ck, of course, I prefer a lot the wings,” Savadori said.

“The wings a lot on braking, entry, wheelie, and in general it’s better in every place. But Raul was fast in Phillip Island, so it was a good result for him and also the engine🦂ers have some data [to consider for the 2025 aero].”

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