At Misano, the contrast was striking. While Marc Marquez was cruising toward another victory and closing in on a title with the Ducati, his teammate Pecco Bagnaia was sinking further into the downward spiral that has plagued his season. The two-time world champion, visibly distraught, shut himself away with his engineers, unable to explain his difficulties. It was ultimately Gigi Dall'Igna, general manager of Ducati Corse, who had to answer Sky Italia's questions.
« The situation is really delicate with Pecco ; he is in trouble. As I have said many times before, we will have to find a solution ", acknowledged the Venetian engineer. And added:
« Tomorrow we have a test, an important day where we will have the opportunity to test many things. So let's hope this is a successful test. »
Asked about the statement of bagnaia, who confessed to “losing patience”, Dall'Igna did not seek to minimize:
« I'm losing patience too, and so are Pecco's fans. It seems perfectly normal to me that someone would say such things when the results aren't there. I think it's normal; we are all human, and we must always start from this principle. »
Gigi Dall'Igna gave her own diagnosis.
The numbers speak for themselves: five Consecutive Grand Prix without a podium, dix races without convincing results and a deficit of 93 points on Alex Marquez in the race for second place in the championship. Even more worrying, bagnaia is only eight points ahead of Marco Bezzecchi and could lose the final podium in the standings.
« It is very simple : Once the downward spiral begins, it always goes down. So it is always difficult to find a way to reverse it.. I always say that positivity is very helpful in this area. »
The weekend's failure puts enormous pressure on the official test day scheduled for Monday at Misano. This will be the last opportunity for Ducati et bagnaia to experiment with settings and new parts outside of a Grand Prix weekend.
Si Marc Marquez seems to roll down a boulevard towards the title, bagnaia, he is fighting against his own wall. The GP25 he was supposed to tame has become his worst nightmare, and Ducati no longer has the luxury of waiting: either Misano revival Pecco, or the season will end in bitter failure.
MotoGP, Misano D3: ranking
MotoGP General Classification
