After two World Champion titles obtained in 2006 and 2007 in 250 with Aprilia and Gigi Dall'Igna, Jorge Lorenzo continuously completed nine seasons in MotoGP with Yamaha. Adapting to his new Ducati could therefore be neither quick nor easy. This is why the Bologna manufacturer's racing department entrusted the Spaniard's Desmosedici to Christian Gabbarini, a calm and experienced technical manager.
Gabbarini's career in Grand Prix is already quite long having started at LCR in 2003 being responsible for data recordings for Casey Stoner. He followed the Australian to Ducati where they won the World Championship together in 2007, then to Honda with a new title in 2011. When Stoner left the Grands Prix at the end of 2012, he was replaced for the following season by the recent World Champion Moto2 Marc Marquez, who took over Stoner's entire technical team against his will, who had followed the Australian since his LCR years.
When Marquez was crowned MotoGP in 2013, he demanded that his loyal Spanish armada (led by Santi Hernandez) replace the Italians. Honda could refuse nothing to the young World Champion, and Gabbarini found himself the following year following customer bikes, at the time in the "Open" subcategory resulting from the equally inglorious "CRT" (Claiming Rule Teams). Last year he worked as technical manager for Jack Miller.
So he didn't hesitate long when Ducati asked him to come back to Bologna. To watch over Lorenzo's Desmosedici, Cristian Gabarrini officiates with Tommaso Pagano, Marco Ventura, Ivan Brandi, Massimo Tognacci, Lorenzo Canestrari, Jorge's always faithful mechanic Juan Llansa Hernandez, and finally Giacomo Massarotto for Öhlins.
" We are progressing, said Gabbarini after the second test of the year. At Phillip Island there were some difficulties due to the wind. So sometimes you would change something on the bike, but the wind would change intensity or direction, so it was then difficult to know if you were going the right way or not.
“Our first objective in Australia was to find a basic setup and make sure it was a good fit for Jorge, who is becoming more and more familiar with this bike. It's normal work, we didn't really try to achieve a time on a lap. The important thing is to work for the future and be prepared for the races. »
Jorge explained that he had difficulty passing mid-corner. Is it more caused by the settings or by the necessary adaptation of his riding style from the Yamaha to the Ducati?
« It is rather the second hypothesis that must be considered because these two motorcycles are very different. After many years on the Yamaha, Jorge has to change a lot of things in his brain about how to ride a motorcycle. For our part, we need to improve the machine so that he can understand it better. Quickly, we need to give Jorge confidence so that he can be more aggressive entering the corner. »
Photo: Gabbarini and Lorenzo (© Ducati)
