[skidlids]

From the bikesport news website

Ducati's MotoGP godfather Filippo Preziosi has hinted the Bologna design team may well be looking at alternative frame configurations for the next year's GP12 MotoGP bike but is resolute the V-four engine configuration will stay.

There has been much paddock chatter that the only way for Ducati to fix the front end grip problems experienced by Valentino Rossi is to bin the current engine-as-a-stressed-member setup and go to a traditional ally perimeter frame used by the Japanese manufacturers.

"We are exploring different (frame) solutions. I don't think material is the point but for sure shape, stiffness and distribution of the stiffness through the length are concepts that we want to explore in order to build up good knowledge so this is something we will do," he said, speaking to bikesportnews.com

"Every time you put something new on the track, you have to compare with existing solutions, this is nothing new or special to compare what we did in the past. When we put in the monocoque frame we ask Casey whether he prefer the old model or the new. We are doing some other modifications for stiffness but not necessarily to do with the frame."

When asked about a switch away from the current V-four engine configuration, Preziosi said there was no point as the only time you would need that is if the front cylinder head was to touch the front tyre, which it doesn't.

"At the moment, we have never reached a configuration where the engine is the limit. Typically, one limit could be when you are trying to put more weight on the front and you touch the front wheel with the cylinder head cover but we are away from that limit so we can modify the weight distribution without any constraints coming from the engine. We are in the middle of the adjustment," he said.