Everyone at Ducati showed great enthusiasm during the presentation of the MotoGP team, and the Italian team is motivated to the core, ready to scratch the fairings of its opponents. Was a top driver missing? Zorro has arrived from Majorca. Let the others take it for granted: Lorenzo and Ducati did not combine their destinies to finish second.
After the very successful presentation in the premises of the Bolognese headquarters of the rouge enterprise, Jorge put down his Don Quixote spear for a few moments to talk about his new adventure with crash.net.
“My goal is not to try to improve Valentino's result when he was at Ducati. It was a different period, with other people at Ducati. Not all, but many people were different. And now the bike, the team, the riders and the tires are different. I don't compare or focus on what happened in the past.
“I don’t think I’m going to fail. I'm sure. I don't know what level I'm going to reach soon, but I'm pretty sure that sooner or later I'm going to be competitive and win. But it would be a big mistake if we focused or became obsessed with the World Championship, or getting the best result, because that's the best way to get lost, get nervous and make mistakes. I think our obsession should be to improve our set day by day and week by week. By together I mean the rider, the team and especially the bike. It is only like this, with the best group in the category, that we can be World Champion. So this must be our focus and obsession.
“The Ducati has a different sound, different power, but also the chassis has a different swingarm, the handlebars, the aerodynamics, everything is different. I needed a few laps at the start to really understand where I was. Of course, the first time when I went hard on the straight in fifth and sixth gear, it was an incredible feeling and I had a smile on my face. First impression is always important and the first impression was a good one.
“As for the possible change in my riding style, let's take the example of the 250. With the Honda, I needed to brake much later and have less speed when cornering. The Aprilia was really the opposite. With her you couldn't brake so late. With the Ducati it will probably be something similar. It has an engine with much more power in a straight line, and more stability. If you drive faster on peaks than before, but with good stability, perhaps you will brake at the same point. But I will keep more or less the same DNA, which involves precision, concentration, smoothness and speed in cornering with the Ducati.
“We had some problems last year with the tires because Michelin has been out of the championship for so long and it's not easy. With these bikes being so powerful, big and heavy, we couldn't expect to have no problems. But with a year of experience and having overcome the problems they had at the beginning, I am sure they will bring more suitable tires to each track in the championship and they will not have these problems. We will have more grip, more endurance and less of these types of problems that we had in 2016.
