Since his arrival at Ducati, Jorge Lorenzo has worked with Casey Stoner's former technical manager, Christian Gabarrini. He had followed the Australian during his time at Honda before finding his way back to Borgo Panigale when the young father retired.
At the end of a season in which Jorge Lorenzo's progress was constant but his adaptation to the Italian machine took longer than expected, the Italian technician draws an apparently positive assessment while issuing a warning...
In the columns of Motorsport.com, he details the different chronological objectives achieved (confidence in the bike, top 5, then fight for victory) emphasizing that success would undoubtedly even have been possible with two more Grands Prix …
This consecration did not come, however, which had not happened to the ex-Yamaha rider for 12 years.
Christian Gabarrini, however, judges the general results to be positive and the objectives achieved, even if this was achieved later than initially anticipated. And the Italian technician warns: there is no question of such a scenario happening again next year!
Simple warning or immense confidence that this will not happen?
Only time will tell, but such comments about his driver nevertheless seem a little strange coming from the mouth of a “simple” technical manager who is not part of the Dall’Igna-Ciabatti-Tardozzi triumvirate…
Christian Gabarrini : “You have to be realistic and not tell yourself stories. If next year we encounter the same problems as in 2017, we will have no excuse. Another season like this would be unacceptable. It's true that we achieved the objective we wanted, but we should have achieved it earlier. When you recruit an extraordinary driver like Lorenzo, it’s to fight for the title”
