The manager of the Pramac Racing team returned to GP One on the birth of his team's project as well as the impact of the difficulties encountered by Ducati.
2018 smiled on the team Pramac Racing which won the title of best independent team of the year thanks to the performances of its two drivers, Danilo Petrucci and Jack Miller, eighth and thirteenth respectively in the Championship. With the departure of Petrucci for the official Ducati team, Pramac finds himself with a rookie, the reigning Moto2 World Champion, Francesco Bagnaia, and in view of his impressive debut, he could quickly bring points back to his team. 2019 therefore promises to be a very good season.
However, everything has not always been simple for the independent team which suffered from the great difficulties encountered by Ducati a few years ago. The manager, Francesco Guidotti, recognizes that the desire to change manufacturer was indeed present: “We've had some really tough years. With Suzuki there had been more than a simple approach. There was also an alternative with Aprilia, but that was several years ago. I thank Paolo Campinoti (the owner of the Pramac team, editor’s note.) for having believed in it from start to finish and for always insisting on staying with Ducati. At one point, I almost gave in to the temptation to change manufacturers, but Paolo insisted and he was right. »
Fortunately, the arrival of Gigi Dall'Igna at Ducati in 2014 changed the situation and the team turned things around to finally find themselves challenging for the title three years later with Andrea Dovizioso. Even though the collaboration with the Italian manufacturer was well established, Guidotti saw a very clear difference when Dall'Igna joined the team : “Our relationship with Dall'Igna is of course very strong, but our partnership with Ducati was already very important before his arrival. It all started with Alessandro Cicognani, the man who was responsible for kicking it all off. When we started in 2013 with Andrea Iannone, the project was that of Ducati, Pramac and Cicognani. We have to go back. Then, obviously, both Ciabatti and Dall'Igna followed up on his work. The arrival of Dall'Igna was a real shock, especially in terms of results because what was done with him over the last three years was unimaginable before. »
Francesco Guidotti
