Stefan Bradl has tested a new radio communications device during free practice in Misano.

The Repsol Honda rider was in communication with race direction while riding the RC213V at Misano, something that previously MotoGP has been praised for avoiding.

Motorsport fans don’t believe MotoGP should follow in the footsteps of Formula One, which allows drivers to communicate with their teams throughout the race, discussing tactics and how to drive the cars.

The current beauty of MotoGP means that once the lights go out it’s the rider and the motorcycle. The fastest and smartest rider over the course of the race wins, very little to do with team tactics.

In more recent times, Dorna introduced ‘dashboard communication’ which allows the team to send messages to their riders. However, the messages the teams can send means that they can only send pre-written messages, box calls, who’s following them and engine mappings.

This has been seen as a positive and a negative for the sport. However, in recent times, MotoGP turned to radio communication, something which was scrapped as quick as it started. That’s up until today.

MotoGP.com spoke with MotoGP sporting director, Carlos Ezpeleta, to discuss what exactly Bradl was testing on track.

Carlos Ezpeleta – MotoGP Sporting Director

“One of the things we have been undressing this year is the visibility of the flags, after the incidents in Austria we spoke to some of the riders in the safety commission and they asked if we can try the radio system again.

“We have tested this in the past with various riders but they have said it was disturbing, but now technology has improved a lot so we decided to give it another try. We tested today with Stefan [Bradl], the test went pretty well, it was just a first test to see what needs to be improved in the future.

“It will only be used in the beginning by race direction to communicate predetermined recorded messages about flags, penalties and things like this, maybe in the future, if teams and riders agree we could open this up to communication from the team and even if it’s possible from riders back to the teams.

“We are very happy with the first test today this Stefan, we will test again on the MotoGP test on Tuesday at Misano and start investigating to hopefully bring something soon in the new seasons.”

Featured image: MotoGP.com