Winner of the first race in the history of the Superbike World Championship, Davide successfully became the Italian manufacturer's Team Manager in WSBK, before being appointed to the equivalent position in MotoGP. He is one of the three key men at Ducati Corse with Luigi Dall'Igna (Competition Director) and Paolo Ciabatti (Sports Director).
What will Danilo Petrucci's role be this year? No. 2 for Andrea Dovizioso or No. 1 tied with his teammate?
“We don’t have a No. 1 or No. 2. It's the track that will decide who is the fastest and who is the slowest. At Ducati we always work for both riders, with the same intensity for both.
« Danilo can be considered by some as the second driver because he arrives for the first time in an official team, but he will have the same assistance as Dovi. And if we have to do special things for him, it won't be a problem for us to do that, like we did last year for George."
What are the major differences between the Desmosedici of 2018 and that of 2019?
“The 2019 is under development and its evolution is not a revolution. We still have a lot of little things that we are going to change, but which we will first experiment with during the tests which will take place in Sepang* and Qatar**. It will only be after the Qatar tests that it will be decided exactly what the new bike will be. First there is development to be done, and we have a lot of things to test. »
*Sepang tests from February 1st to 3rd, then from February 6th to 8th,
**Qatar tests from February 23 to 25.
Is the departure of Jorge Lorenzo considered a big loss by Ducati?
“First of all I would like to say that Jorge showed that he can also win with Ducati. But we are happy with the solution we found. This decision was taken before the Mugello Grand Prix, when by mutual agreement Ducati and Lorenzo thought it was better for both to choose different routes.
“Jorge then took victory at Mugello. But we thought that after a year and a half it would be difficult to continue together to obtain good results. »
Who is most likely to be Dovi's future teammate? Danilo Petrucci, Francesco Bagnaia or Jack Miller?
" We do not know. I believe that for the moment Danilo is very lucky to stay. We greatly appreciated that he took this unique contract year covering only 2019 as a challenge.
“He did not insist on one year or two years of contract. He said “I want to prove in one year that I am a driver worthy of riding for an official team.” We appreciated that he took this opportunity as the chance of his life and that he did it with Ducati.
“He was in discussions with other factories, but he decided to stay with us and he took the risk of wanting to prove to us that he was worthy of being part of an official team. »
In Superbike, do you think Alvaro Bautista can beat Jonathan Rea in some races with the new 1000 4-cylinder?
“The first thing to say is that we have a lot of respect for Johnny and also for the Kawa which showed that it was a good bike. Johnny is a fantastic driver.
“We’re sure we’re going to make his life very difficult this year!” I believe that Alvaro, as well as Chaz, has all the potential to be a protagonist, and I am certain that he will be. We're really going to try to make Johnny's life very difficult this season.
“But, once again, we have a lot of respect for Johnny. We know very well that Johnny in Superbike and Marquez in MotoGP are real champions. They are more than fast drivers, they are champions.
“They are not only champions in the head, but also in the right hand! »
You were the first rider to win a World Superbike Championship race at Donington in 1988. Do you regret that this year, for the first time in thirty years, there is no longer a twin-cylinder Ducati in World Superbike? ?
" Yes… (big sigh). We look to the future. We love the past a lot, but we must first look to the future. If this is what the future should be, this is what we choose. But we keep an important thought for this memory in our heart. »
Photos © Ducati Motor Holding spa
