As he does regularly, the Spanish journalist Manuel Pecino not only contributes to various European motorcycling magazines but also produces very interesting texts on his personal website PecinoGP.com.
We particularly appreciated his interview with Gigi Dall'Igna which, depending on the case, invalidates, confirms or reinforces certain statements already published in the press.
Thus, regarding the trigger made in Jorge Lorenzo through the simple shape of its tank cover, the Italian engineer tempers: “First, I have to say that we talk and have talked about this too much. Second, this fuel tank cover is probably only one of 100 upgrades we made to the bike. It is obvious that just with a different shape of fuel tank we could not achieve these kinds of results. It was the complete package that gave Lorenzo the opportunity to fight for victory.”
That's done !
A lead was then put forward by the Spanish journalist who pointed out that a big change had occurred in the competitiveness and morale of the Majorcan between the Grands Prix in Texas and Jerez. And it was precisely between these two races that Michele Pirro did a test at Mugello. Could there be a connection?
Brief, but meaningful answer, “it would be possible…honestly, it would be possible.”
Another subject on which the Ducati MotoGP project manager does not want to dwell on is the signing of Por Fuera at Honda: “I think everyone should talk a lot less… Everyone!” There is no more story, over, end. A page has been turned. We should all move forward. We have a job to do and that's what we're focused on. Of course Jorge will receive our full support, the same way he has received full support since the first day he arrived in our team. And let's not forget that Jorge remains a big investment in our company and he would be foolish in many ways not to do his best to succeed. We are going to support him in exactly the same way that we will support Dovizioso.”
Conversely, the transalpine technician underlines in detail the importance of tires which, according to him, are not those indicated on the paper… “Honestly, I think the rear tires are not the same as last year, although, as you said, they are the same on paper. My feeling is that something has changed. I'm talking about a small change, not a big change. We can see it in the data we have; there is the feeling but also some figures [to prove it]. Look, I've been doing this job since 1992 and a long time ago, basically from the beginning, I realized that the most important thing on the bike is the tires. So it's not something new; it’s “take what you’ve got or don’t play.” What you need to do is understand the tires and adapt the motorcycle to them. The situation at the end of the Bridgestone era was more stable. But I think that at some point we will have the same stability with Michelin. When you start with something new, as was the case with Michelin, you have to find what the right compromise is and that involves changing things; it's normal. I think from now on the situation should be more stable.”
But many other subjects are covered in this interview, and we can only highly recommend that you read it in its entirety (in English) on the site PecinoGP.com.
