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After Rea's race 1 victory, which put an end to the 11-race "Bautista spell", Ducati followed Kawasaki in Sunday morning's warm-up. In the first wet SBK session of 2019, the team Aruba V4R bikes headed out on track with a similar appendage to that used by Yamaha during the Valencia tests and that gave way to the much criticised Ducati spoon in MotoGP.
The one tested today by Bautista and Davies is quite different from the spoon used by Dovizioso & co (now used by other teams too), and is more similar to the deflector seen on Rossi and Vinales' Yamahas at the 2018 Valencia test.
There are two main differences between the appendage seen this morning and that used in MotoGP: the position and the function. This deflector is not mounted on the swingarm but directly on the bike's fairing, its goal not to cool the rear wheel (or increase downforce) but simply to deflect water in wet conditions.
All above board then, with no protests on the part of other team.
Unfortunately for Ducati though, even in trying to 'protect' the rear tyre, Bautista's V4 finished warm-up in eighth place, almost three seconds from Rea, the session's leader. The Superpole Race also went to Rea with Davies and Bautista rounding out the podium.
