Paolo Ciabatti – “We are competitive and we know it. We know that we can fight for a win that still has not arrived. We must resolve this issue between now and the end of the season. I think we’ll have a couple of occasions and this time I hope we don’t make mistakes.” Paolo Ciabatti, Ducati DS, believe in it and he says it in an exclusive interview to Crash.net.
Ducati had a lot of opportunities. However, the accident at the last corner between Iannone and Dovizioso in GP of Argentina was the most unlucky. “It can happen. If it happens at the start of a race is a huge disappointment, but at two corners from the end, when you fight for a second and a third place, is much worse. Luckily, there are races practically every weekend. It helps. I think it’s probably one of the biggest disappointments that we had for many years. We just need to make sure that doesn’t happen again.” said Ciabatti. He explains that after what happened, the Italian brand made it clear that the Ducati comes first. “MotoGP is an individual sport, but the Ducati is first. So, a good result for Ducati must be more important than a good result for a pilot. We hope that the message has passed.” adds Ciabatti.
Paolo Ciabatti: “We will design the bike next year differently”
Paolo Ciabatti also explains that before concluding the agreement with Lorenzo for the coming seasons, there was also the hypothesis Marc Marquez. “Both had an expiring contract. So, we had to move fast. We contacted both, but with Lorenzo seemed to be able to close the deal. For Marc we should have started a fight for the engagement with Honda.” added the Ducati DS. The choice of Lorenzo came as well, considering both drivers at the same level, but also looking for the chances of success of the deal. “At one point we focused our efforts on him. The fact that Casey Stoner knows Jorge and has a good relationship with him was an added bonus to everything, but it didn’t affect.”
Paolo Ciabatti speaks also about the aerodynamic winglets. An innovation introduced by Ducati, adopted later by other teams, but prohibited in MotoGP next year. “We will design the bike next year differently.” said the Ducati DS. “We think it’s a bad decision. Because it takes away the MotoGP Championship a feature that would have differentiated from every other kind of competing with motorcycles. It also is unfair. Because there is no reason, let alone, to prohibit it. Some pilot complained, but apart from a few scratches the fins have never caused an accident. I think it is an excuse by some manufacturers to take away an advantage to Ducati. The role of the manufacturers association should be to find a solution for the technical development of motorcycle. Do not ban something. Because a producer is ahead of the other producers“.
