Ducati therefore announced that it was postponing the announcement of its riders for another week for 2021. We nevertheless know their names and, among them, there is a Bagnaia and a Zarco competing to join the factory team in place of Dovizioso. A place which should go to the first city, young and Italian. But the latter also knows that he cannot rejoice in this favorable ballot by being, at the end of a Friday in Catalonia, 1s5 behind the Frenchman equipped only with the GP19...
When taking stock of the first day of the Barcelona Grand Prix, Pecco Bagnaia tried to mask a disappointing performance by using a semblance of humor: “ of course if Zarco won here he would have done more than me and maybe he could take the factory Ducati. Maybe he could change something. Maybe », he comments with a smile, still revealing a doubt. It must be said that pointing 20rd with the GP20 1s5 behind the one he is talking about and who is content with a GP19 nevertheless put in second place, it's messy...
The resident of the VR46 academy explains this failed departure by Catalonia : " this morning with the medium, I couldn't shoot, so we tried with the soft like Dovizioso. It didn't go well for me, at least a little better for him. We were both struggling. Today, however, in the afternoon I had my best time with the medium. I don't know how it went for Dovizioso but I think it went bad for both of us. I think Ducati is in trouble here, except for Zarco who is second ».
« I expected a different start » admits the teammate Miller, not really better off. “ I'm quite disappointed, last week I was 11th on Friday, but I was working on the pace. Today, I'm 20th and the pace isn't good either. So it's not good. I have a lot of trouble, I have little confidence. I feel like I have less grip. There are some turns that almost remind me of the Ranch in the way I have to handle them. With 10% fuel, the bike is already slipping. It seems that, at the moment, the tires are not heating up ».
“I’m not competitive at the moment”
« Tomorrow I will try to do something more myself because if we start changing the configuration now we might get lost. I'll be faster tomorrow, I'm sure. Today was a special day, we looked for a solution which we did not find and certainly tomorrow with less wind I will find myself better " to analyse bagnaia.
Exactly, this wind… “ We are suffering from the wind, tomorrow this wind will not be there and it will be a step forward. Today we really had very little grip, braking we had difficulty. In my opinion, the Ducatis will get back up tomorrow, but today we really suffered in every way. The grip of the asphalt will increase over the weekend. I really found myself unable to do anything on the bike, whereas in Misano I was doing everything I wanted on the saddle. I didn't feel quite sure about the front. I'm not competitive at the moment ».
« The tires that Michelin brought here are suitable for slightly higher temperatures. I'm working on it, but at the moment we don't have a solution yet. It's certainly one of the most difficult days since the start of the season ».
He concludes : " I don't know why things are changing so quickly. I don't know if it's the tires or something else, but I started off in trouble here. We figured something out today, so I'm sure with better grip than tomorrow we can progress ". Or, the case zarco will no longer make you laugh...
MotoGP Barcelona J1: classification
