The sporting director of Ducati Corse Paolo Ciabatti could consider himself lucky with three consecutive places of vice-World Champion MotoGP for Andrea Dovizioso. Many team bosses would be more than satisfied with a prize list also flattering.
« This is a situation we can be proud of, admits Ciabatti. But that doesn't mean we're 100% satisfied. Because you are satisfied when you achieve your goal. Our goal is to win the World Championship. But we didn't succeed. »
But Ciabatti finds some positives when looking back on the 2019 season: “We were the only manufacturer to win races with two different drivers. No other MotoGP factory team did this in 2019. On top of that we had Jack Miller with the third GP19, he got five podiums. If you're asking if the Desmosedici GP was a competitive bike last year, you have to answer yes. We think we did a good job. »
“But we have improved the bike a lot for 2020. Of course, we had four Ducatis in the first four places at the Sepang test in 2019. But this season we are in a situation where we have to get to know and understand the new Michelin tires. So we are working on tuning to understand the behavior of the new rear tires, which have a new construction. So in Sepang we didn't really focus on the best times. »
“Has Ducati learned from the 2019 Sepang test and paid more attention to long distances this time around?
“Engineers are preparing plans for testing “, explains Mr. Ciabatti. “ It's always good to have a good lap time. It's positive, not only for the media but also for the team. But we now have a lot of experience and we know that the final results of the Sepang test are not an indicator for the following season. »
“Look at the Bagnaia of 2019. He was second in the Malaysia Test as a debutant… But it makes more sense if you can look back with satisfaction at the entire Test work. The individual passage time is not that important. It's more interesting if you focus on the duration of the race. One quick lap is one thing. But if you want to be consistently fast over the race distance, that's a different story. »
Photos © Ducati
Source: Speeweek
