Gigi Dall'Igna is like all the men at Ducati at the moment, on a red cloud celebrating an exceptional season where the Borgo Panigale firm won everything in MotoGP and WSBK. Before retiring to his quarters and legitimately enjoying the holidays with his first square, the Italian gives his final feelings on what happened, while lifting the veil on what is to come...
The man who is in charge of Ducati Corse take advantage of this historic moment for its troops and its brand by first making this observation: “ It's definitely a golden year, but you only know it's the right one when you win. Motorcycle racing is always unpredictable and anything can happen, from a technical problem to a stupid accident that can compromise everything. Or lose a wing, as happened in Valencia with Bagnaia. Until the end we can't be calm and we fought until the end ».
Opening to GP One before taking up his winter quarters where he will stay with his family, “ review everything we have done and spend time with friends, which are an important part of a person's life », he gives certain considerations about his adversaries and also about the future. Regarding the first mentioned, he confirms that he still has the regret of seeing them seek to change the rules of the game rather than raising their level, a posture which fuels a sort of dull resentment: “ it's part of their game. When I had to catch up, I honestly thought and acted differently, I never asked for anyone to be penalized or for technical solutions to be banned. Obviously, in this world we have been different ».
He takes advantage of the opportunity to speak out about the contingent on the workforce of eight Ducati which upsets some who are nevertheless the first responsible for what they deplore, leaving the field open and the teams idle because without motorcycles to take on the market... " It's clear that everything is against us. The manufacturers take a significant amount of money from the organizer to have a satellite team and we, having more than one private team, have to offer them our bike at a reduced price ».
"I would like to build a dream Ducati team for Suzuka"
And he warns: “ it will be difficult if we can continue for a long time with 8 motorcycles, but as long as we can we will continue ". And for good reason : " we decided to increase the number of motorcycles and riders on the track and it’s a strategy that paid off. We chose well and now we have a solid base of pilots. We are ready to give them what it takes to be able to demonstrate all their talent ».
2022 is coming to an end, and we already have to think about what’s next… “ Let's try to reconfirm ourselves, which already seems very difficult to me. We try to use all our neurons to achieve this » and then there is this opening made by Pecco Bagnaia which seems to have triggered a reflection in Gigi Dall'Igna... " The 8 hours of Suzuka is a beautiful and interesting dream...It won't be easy because there are some technical issues to solve to do something like this well, but I would like to build a dream team for Suzuka. I don't think we'll talk about it for 2023. 2024? These are things that take time to manage well, it makes no sense to participate in a race like this if there is no possibility of doing well ».
In the meantime, there will be the challenge of MotoE to relieve : " we started from a blank sheet and few times in the life of a designer we manage to do it, so this project has its charm ". And don’t ask him if he prefers the GP22 or the Panigale V4R… “ It's like asking a dad which son he prefers., this is a question that cannot be answered. They are both beautiful and both have given me incredible satisfaction ". A nice conclusion.
