Enea Bastianini tries “anti-vibration system” at Misano MotoGP test

After chatter issues during his home San Marino MotoGP weekend, KTM’s Enea Bastianini tried a small swingarm mass damper during Monday’s Misano test.

The GP25 Ducatis of Marc Marquez, Francesco Bagnaia and Fabio di Giannantonio have been using a similar device this season, including at Misano (see below), although it first appeared in Moto2 back in 2019.

The use of mass dampers is now prohibited on Moto2 or Moto3 but remains legal in MotoGP, where it is better known as the 'salad box' fitted above the rear wheel.

"We tested small things on the bike today, also to resolve the vibration at the front, which we struggled all weekend with,” Bastianini said.

“We were able to find improvements, although we have not completely resolved the problem.

“The track conditions were different to the weekend, the grip was different and the wind in sector 3 helped us for the corner entry, so it is difficult to make a clear comparison with the weekend.

“But we were losing less in that area compared to the other riders, so it is a good point. Let’s see if we can improve when we go to new tracks."

"We also tried an anti-vibration system"

Turning to the swingarm damper, which like the larger ‘salad box’ is used to help counter chatter or vibration, Bastianini said it was the first time he had tried the device.

“We need to work on that because it's the first time testing that solution, but for the first time was not so bad,” he said.

Tech3 team manager Nicolas Goyon confirmed use of an ‘anti vibration system’.

“Enea Bastianini had the opportunity to try a few different systems, and most of them were positive, especially on the suspension side,” he said. “We also tried an anti-vibration system, which helped him, so we are happy with the work done.”

Bastianini, who crashed out of the grand prix, finished the test 12th on the combined timesheets, 0.674s behind factory KTM rider Pedro Acosta.

Injured team-mate Maverick Vinales was directly behind him, in 13th.

“The test went well for us today, it was very important to be able to get as many laps as possible to get some strength back,” said Vinales, who rode for 64 laps. “Our performance is not at the maximum, but we are feeling good.

“We have not been testing anything new to be honest, because I am unable to bring the package to the maximum, and the bike is already really good. The focus was on ourselves today, and I am happy with how the day went."