As the new Mooney VR46 Racing Team made its launch on Thursday February 24 in the sumptuous setting of the Rossini Theater in Pesaro, Italy, on the Adriatic coast, Marco Bezzecchi answered journalists' questions the following day via teleconferencing software .
We transcribe his entire remarks here without any formatting.
Marco, do you think that having Matteo Flamigni as chief mechanic this season will help you make a good debut in MotoGP?
« Working with Matteo Flamigni is a good thing because he is very experienced. I think it will make my debut in the discipline easier, and allow me to face new challenges in MotoGP. It's going to be difficult, but I'm sure I'll get all the support I need from my team.
Marco, there are several riders from the VR46 Academy riding Ducati this season. Who do you feel closest to: Pecco Bagnaia, Enea Bastianini or Luca Marini?
« I have no preference. If I have any advice to ask, I can easily go to Pecco, Luca, or any other member of Ducati. They are all very friendly, and it is therefore very easy to exchange information between us. They all have different riding styles, but I think I have a style closer to Luca's. This was already the case in Moto2. »
Your teammate Luca Marini said he felt a lot of pressure last year on a Ducati that wasn't the latest version. Are you going to try to take inspiration from last year's settings to make your adaptation easier?
« For me it's not a disadvantage not to have the latest bike. Anyway I don't have the experience to ride the factory bike at the moment. It's good that I'm already getting my hands on last year's bike to fully understand the best way to ride and how to manage the tires. Of course when I am more experienced I would really like to be able to ride the factory bike. But it's difficult to know when we are ready to move onto the official bike. At the moment I feel good in the current situation: I have access to the data of all the riders, and I have the possibility to talk to everyone at Ducati. I think I have a good package even though I'm not on the factory bike. »
“I think I have a good package even though I’m not on the factory bike”
How will you approach your first race weekend in Qatar? Are you going to use your own settings, or rather use those used by other Ducati riders last year?
« Honestly I'm not going to start the weekend with another driver's settings, because that really complicates things. This is not a way of doing things that works for me I think. So I think I'm going to use the same base settings as those used during the winter tests, and adjust it afterwards. But my chief mechanic, Matteo Flamigni, will have his say in this process. »
