Ducati holeshot device caught on camera - Updated

UPDATE 2: Furter footage clearly shows the rear suspension of the Ducati lower by around two inches when the switch is activated.

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]."

Miller also revealed he has been using a holeshot device "since Motegi last season..."

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. But does it work on the front, the rear (where the switch cable seems to go and increasingly likely) or both?

It's also not known if the Ducati system is mainly designed to reduce wheelies by lowering the centre of gravity, or - given the device seems to work on the rear - improve stability off the line by removing suspension movement as the torque is applied.

Either way, when the rider hits the brakes at turn one, the suspension would unlock and operate as normal thereafter.