Ducati's sporting director spoke with speedweek about the changes of drivers of the two teams, the official one and Pramac Racing, and especially on the arrival of the rookie Francesco Bagnaia which could have not happened due to the sudden success of Jorge Lorenzo.
Paolo ciabatti, Ducati's sporting director, is very satisfied with the 2018 season of his four riders, even if he knows that mistakes were made. One of them, and which caused a lot of talk, remains the decision to part ways with Jorge Lorenzo due to lack of results, right when they arrived.
However, the situation was already more or less fixed: Danilo Petrucci was going to replace the Majorcan in the official team and give way to rookie Francesco Bagnaia at Ducati Pramac. The young Italian signed his contract even before the start of the Moto2 season, and this choice was also criticized. And yet, fortunately for the reigning World Champion that the signing was made so early, because Lorenzo's success could have changed the situation.
Indeed, if Ducati had waited until the middle of the season, it is not certain that the separation with number 99 would have taken place, and the places could therefore have remained as they were for one more season: Andrea Dovizioso and Jorge Lorenzo in the The official team, Danilo Petrucci and Jack Miller at Pramac. And so more from Francesco Bagnaia: “Of course, if you wait until later in the season you have more information to decide. In our case, the choice would probably have been influenced by Lorenzo's victory at Mugello... But we remain convinced that it is an advantage to have signed "Pecco" so early because we have linked a very talented and promising driver to our team . An advance decision still has its advantages. »
Ciabatti therefore does not wish to argue and considers that things had to happen this way, but it is nevertheless surprising to note to what extent the careers of pilots depend on only a few things and that the future of Bagnaia could have been much darker while on the contrary he promises to be a formidable rookie in MotoGP in 2019.
Regardless, the Ducati team is very positive for next year: “2019 is going to be an interesting year because Danilo arrives in the official team, Jack will ride a GP19 at Pramac, and Francesco Bagnaia arrives in MotoGP. We signed him before the start of the Moto2 season and believe it was the right decision. We are very happy with our choice and hope that we will achieve good results with all our drivers next year. »
