Francesco Bagnaia<\/a> at the start of the 2023 Barcelona round.<\/p>\n Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n
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The Italian\u2019s Ducati suddenly snapped sideways while leading on the exit of the first chicane, throwing him down the track (see video above, set to start at the moment Bagnaia lost control).\u00a0<\/p>\n
He was lucky to escape serious injuries when his legs were run over in the mayhem that followed.<\/p>\n
Crash.net asked Cecchinelli to explain a \u2018textbook scenario\u2019, where Stability control steps in, while Traction control would not.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst of all, they address different phenomena,\u201d Cecchinelli began.<\/p>\n
\u201cTraction control controls spinning. Stability control, otherwise known as slide control, controls sliding. So they are two different phenomena, despite the fact that they often happen together, but this is by chance.<\/p>\n
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\u201cNormally, when you have an excessive amount of spin, you also break traction, which results in sliding.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut sometimes – and Pecco\u2019s infamous crash in Barcelona is a good example – we have seen cases of big slides without spinning. And this is what we want to control using Stability control.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, to answer your question, traction control, to make it simple, intervenes when it detects too much rotational speed of the rear wheel compared to the front wheel.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat if the bike wheelies? Then you forget about the front wheel speed and use a hypothetical speed. But this is a detail.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe overall concept is you compare the rear tyre rotation with the bike\u2019s speed. But the aim is never \u2018zero spin\u2019 because a tyre can only push forward if there is some level of spin.<\/p>\n
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\u201cSo, there is an optimal amount of spin for accelerating the bike, and an excessive amount of spin that you want to control.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery tyre has an ideal amount of spin for maximising acceleration which actively changes depending on a number of factors such as lean angle, temperature, and so on.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen the part everyone forgets is that the same is true for braking: You need a negative wheel spin to generate the maximum braking force. So if you measure the number of revolutions of a wheel during braking, you will find the wheel was \u2018slower\u2019 than the bike.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, the target spin is not zero and traction control allows you, in principle, to always have your ideal spin percentage. It may be between 10 and 20 percent. Something like that.”<\/p>\n
![\"Brad](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/gng_1282633_hires_1600x900.jpg\")
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Brad Binder sliding his Red Bull KTM at the 2025 Portimao MotoGP.<\/p>\n
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\u201cExtreme snapping\u201d<\/p>\n
Stability control is fundamentally different and more complex.<\/p>\n
\u201cStability control controls what we call the yaw rate, which is the angular velocity at which the bike rotates around its vertical axle. So it\u2019s not about how \u2018sideways\u2019 a bike is, but the rate at which the angle is changing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“In other words, it should control when a bike \u2018snaps\u2019 sideways quickly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is even more complex than traction control but, if you put the correct numbers for your bike into the system, it does exactly that. It controls extreme snapping in the same way that traction control controls extreme spinning.\u201d<\/p>\n
All electronic control strategies ultimately request one outcome: torque reduction.<\/p>\n
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\u201cEach of these strategies, also including Wheelie control, do nothing more than ask for a torque reduction to a torque controller.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you put all of these strategies together – traction, stability and wheelie control – the strongest one at that moment prevails, and you cut the engine torque by a specified amount.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe end result is always cutting of the engine torque.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"2025](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/gng_1270671_hires_1600x900.jpg\")
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2025 Indonesia MotoGP, Mandalika.<\/p>\n
So they often work at the same time?<\/p>\n
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\u201cYes. But, regardless of the combination of messages sent from these controls, there is only one output, which is reducing engine torque. So, they all have to come to an \u2018agreement\u2019 on what to do, which is what you have written in the software,\u201d Cecchinelli said.<\/p>\n
When multiple systems try to intervene simultaneously, the highest requested torque cut wins.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s imagine three people were all asking the system to cut the torque at the same time. I’m asking for 10%, you\u2019re asking for 20% and someone else asks for 30% – they would win because they want the highest. So, the system has to cut 30%.\u201d<\/p>\n
The method of torque reduction depends on the speed of the situation.<\/p>\n
Slower dynamics such as wheelies are typically controlled by electronically closing the throttle. But faster events, like sudden spin or snap, require ignition intervention.<\/p>\n
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\u201cA slow action is normally achieved by controlling the throttle. Wheelies, for instance, are considered to be a slow phenomenon and so mostly controlled by shutting the throttle,\u201d Cecchinelli said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut quicker dynamics, like traction, can’t normally be controlled with the throttle. It doesn\u2019t react fast enough. Instead, you reduce the torque by reducing the spark advance on some firings, up to not firing at all.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you retard or cut some ignition, it creates the \u2018machine gun\u2019 sound you can hear trackside. It’s the quickest way to reduce engine torque, because it happens hundreds of times per second.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithin the official MotoGP ECU, teams can write their desired patterns of ignition cut or retard for each scenario.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Stability control “probably wouldn’t” have helped Maverick Vinales<\/p>\n
But even the combined efforts of Traction and Stability controls won\u2019t eliminate all highsides.<\/p>\n
Riders can still lose the rear and be flicked into a highside by an off-throttle slide, as suffered by Tech3 KTM\u2019s Maverick Vinales in a wet qualifying at Sachsenring last season.<\/p>\n
That accident was shortly before Stability control was officially introduced, however:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe crash I had was off gas, so the Stability control probably wouldn\u2019t do anything,\u201d confirmed Vinales, who suffered shoulder injuries that compromised the remainder of his season.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a typical wet weather crash with a cold tyre, just an off-gas highside. So I don’t think [Stability control] will avoid these types of crashes, where there is no electronics.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Another recent example of a costly off-throttle highside was Jorge Martin\u2019s testing accident for Aprilia at Sepang 2025.<\/p>\n
Subscribe to our MotoGP Newsletter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MotoGP\u2019s Director of Technology Corrado Cecchinelli says data shows the sport\u2019s new Stability control system is doing exactly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478268,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,7607,5745,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":["post-478267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-francesco-bagnaia","tag-motogp","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478267\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}