UPDATE: On Friday evening Pramac GP19 rider Jack Miller was asked if the holeshot device helps the bike stay more level at the start: "Yeah, that's the general idea. You can use a little bit more torque, and you can feel it. You just have to get used to it [the suspension] popping up and remember it’s going to pop up [after the start]."
The mysterious dashboard switch on the Ducati GP19s has been all but confirmed as some form of 'holeshot device', after on-board footage captured Andrea Dovizioso activating the switch just before his practice start at the end of FP2 in Qatar.
Suspicions were raised that Ducati is now using some kind of suspension-locking device – to help with race starts - since the new switch is mechanical rather than electronic (which would be illegal for the suspension) and of a size/location that can be used by the rider, but not while at racing speeds.
In the clip below Dovizioso appears to turn the switch while operating the brakes, which would compress and then presumably lock the suspension in place.
It's not known if the Ducati system is mainly designed to reduce wheelies - the most important factor in terms of making a good MotoGP start - by lowering the centre of gravity, or simply improve stability off the line by removing suspension movement.
Either way, when the rider hits the brakes at turn one, the suspension would unlock and operate as normal thereafter.
I spy with my little eye...
What do we have here, Ducati?#QatarGP pic.twitter.com/m8L5BXQnyJ
— MotoGP™ (@MotoGP) March 8, 2019
