Ducati finished the 2020 season with the Constructors' World Champion title. This is a fact more than a satisfaction given that it is due to a penalty imposed on Yamaha while the ambition of the crown among the pilots bordered on the fiasco. Certainly, Dovizioso finished fourth, but without Marc Marquez in the running, the one behind whom the same Dovi has been the runner-up for the last three years. The end of an era since the 34-year-old driver has left, just like his teammate Petrucci. Place for young people. Which is not without risk...
In 2021, the manufacturer, World Champion in its category, will present itself on the start line of the new season without a single driver on its roster having achieved success in the dry in MotoGP. A singularity which challenges, but which does not move the sports director Paolo ciabatti who defends himself as follows: “ with Jack Miller and Pecco Bagnaia we have a young, motivated and well-balanced driver team for the factory team ". We will nevertheless recall that Jack Miller won a Grand Prix, on a Honda, in the rain at Assen, in 2016.
The 25-year-old Australian has all the trappings of the new leader of the red tunics. He fought for two second places in the last two races and finished the championship seventh, just ahead fabio quartararo : " Jack finished the season in impressive fashion “, points out Ciabatta. " Unfortunately, he is still missing his first victory on the Ducati after three years ».
Ducati prefers Bagnaia to Quartararo
It remains that if we follow the approach of Ciabatta, it would seem that the greatest hopes are based on Pecco Bagnaia. His career so far has hardly been eloquent in terms of raw results, but the successes have visibly dazzled the sports director Ducati who begins by defending his foal: “ he had a very difficult 2019 season at Pramac as a rookie on the Ducati. We compared his performances at the time with those of Quartararo on the Yamaha, but Pecco definitely won more than Fabio in Moto2. But a beginner has more difficulty on a Ducati. It's certainly a difficult undertaking »
The manager of Ducati then draws a positive assessment of the 2020 season of bagnaia, even though the Italian only finished 16th in the World Championship with 47 points, while his teammate Miller finished seventh with 132 points. “ Pecco finished seventh in the first race at Jerez. In the second Jerez GP he would have finished second had he not suffered an engine failure. Then he crashed in Brno and was injured for three races. Five weeks after the leg operation he returned to Misano and finished second in the first round. A week later, he fell while leading. Viñales would never have caught him again. But of course: you have to finish the race ».
Ciabatta thus ends his demonstration on speedweek : " we can say that Pecco's start to the season has been fantastic. He rode the Ducati well. After Misano, Pecco had more crashes, he lost a bit of confidence and never found that 100% feeling with the bike again. But we are convinced that he has a lot of talent. We trust him to get on the podium and even win races ».
It will be recalled that among the workforce Ducati, there will also be three beginners: one at Pramac with George Martin and two at Avintia with Marini and the reigning Moto2 World Champion bastianini, which will have GP19s. There will also be, and perhaps even above all, a Johann zarco thirty-year-old and now experienced on the Desmosedici and who also showed very good things in 2020…
