Michael Bartholemy gave an extremely long interview to Neil Morrison for crash.net on the eve of the Grand Prix of the Americas
He analyzes the performances and the potential future of Franco Morbidelli in MotoGP, affirms his desire to continue with Honda and sheds light on the situation around Jack Miller.
Then, to finish, he comes to the case Tito Rabat by impartially depicting the qualities and faults of the Spanish pilot. On certain points, we are sometimes even really surprised…
Michael Bartholemy: “You know, there is progress. We are no longer like last year. There is progress with both [Jack Miller and Tito Rabat]. We did two races. Both times Jack finished in the top ten and the other guy finished in the points. So there has been progress compared to last year. The bike has also progressed. Certainly, the bike is better than last year on several points. The bike still needs to improve. Of course, it's not an easy package to ride, like the Yamaha. Tito is not a perfect person himself, he will improve. He's the guy with the most determination you can find. You will never find a guy like him. Overall, he's completely crazy about motorcycles. He is only interested in motorcycles. You can't do more than he does. »
“Tito is a difficult boy. It was the same in Moto2, because he had his rhythm. He has Almeria. He has to be on the bike ten hours a day. With that he can go fast, but you can't replicate that in MotoGP. It was much easier with a Moto2. MotoGP, you can only ride it when you are racing or during certain tests. You can't do 100 rounds, and sometimes even that wouldn't help you. Right now we're trying to say “Okay, you’re home for six days, with three days off the bike.” But you have to force it. I call every two hours and I don't hear a sound of motorcycles. Otherwise…
Then he can go three days on the motorcycle. When your brain switches off and you get back on the bike, the result is much better. Now, slowly, he's starting to realize it. He said, “My three-day time is 0,2 seconds faster,” just because he was fresh and not stressed. As we said before, he's a nervous guy, the opposite of Frankie (Morbidelli). »
“Tito is quite difficult to control. I think I still have a good feeling with him because he is a very honest boy. Tito would never lie. He would never say: “a red light came on on the bike and I had to slow down”. No. This does not exist. He always looks himself in the face. There is a lot of discussion every day about “Why did you do it like that? » pto help him be more relaxed with what he is doing. But look at Argentina. Twelfth position. We were happy, not only for the place, but also because it was a good race, with four people fighting, and he won the battle. He's fighting with them now. He's no longer the guy completely alone and the last one on the track. This is important to him, because at the end of the day, this guy is a world champion! He is still the guy who has won the most Moto2 races in a season. It's not like a crappy pilot. The guy can ride a motorcycle. This is because our motorcycle is a little more complicated to ride than other motorcycles. It takes a little time to get used to it. »
