Aprilia debut Ducati-style launch control in Austria

Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Technical Manager Romano Albesiano has confirmed the Italian manufacturer are debuting their own launch control device at the myWorld Motorrad Grand Prix von Österreich this weekend.

Ducati have been the innovators in this department in 2019, with the Bologna factory having used a device to help them off the line for the entire season so far. Now, in Austria, Albesiano has confirmed Aprilia are trying their own take on the system that is aimed to control traction and wheelie from a standing start.

“There is a traction control strategy and a wheelie control strategy active,” confirmed Albesiano. “The idea is to keep the centre of gravity lower in areas where the performance is only limited by the wheelie. So, by dropping the fork, we drop the centre of gravity and there’s some improvement.”

As well as this, Aprilia have been seen using two different swingarms in Austria as the factory aims to close the gap to the leading manufacturers before we see a “very different” RS-GP in 2020.

Tune in at 14:00 local time (GMT+2) on Sunday to see if both Andrea Iannone and Aleix Espargaro can use the system to good effect when they launch from P18 and P19 respectively at the Red Bull Ring.