[en] Accurate beam direction measurements (0±3mr) have been performed on the ⁴⁰Ar projectile fragmentation on a Ni target, at 44 MeV/u, by using the telescopic mode on the double spectrometer LISE at GANIL. Sampling results on Al and Au targets are also presented. Velocity distributions are analysed for fragments of masses from 10 to 45. As expected from a study of the forward angle physics, the presented beam direction measurements (0 deg) and the grazing angle ones (3 deg) exhibit spectacular differences. The most probable velocities are found much closer to the beam one at 0 deg than at 3 deg. The velocity-integrated mass-yields obtained in the beam direction exhibit a regular exponential rise from A ∼ 18 to A ∼ 40. The role of diffraction is to be examined. (author) 24 refs., 13 figs., 2 tabs