Aprilia’s semi-automatic clutch system, which was an advantage for starts, has been banned. Maverick Viñales himself confirmed the prohibition of this mechanism without going into details.
Speaking to the press, #12 stated: ‘The thing is we had one system, but the championship banned it, so we cannot use and we go back to the standard clutch. Now the starts are difficult again, so that was the difference. Until Australia we were using a different way to start, but it has been banned and we cannot use, so we are using a standard procedure as always and it’s not easy’.
According to Motorsport.com, other Aprilia sources said the matter is confidential, but it is reported that the system was banned after a complaint from another manufacturer. Thus, since the Australian GP, the Noale manufacturer has had to return to the previous clutch. The most recent one was a clutch that did not dispense with the rider’s intervention but worked as if it were automatic.
It is believed that the protest came from KTM, which, despite also having a similar version of the clutch, considers that Aprilia’s depends too much on electronic control. While technical directors initially authorized the solution because it required rider intervention, an unidentified track engineer assures Motorsport.com that it is an automatic clutch similar to those used in Formula 1.
In addition to complaining about Aprilia’s clutch, KTM is also said to have requested a change to the current regulations in order to homologate its own solution – although it voluntarily removed it from the Thai GP onwards.