It's a Luca Marini certainly not dejected but already shaken who comes out of a Qatar Grand Prix with the GP22 which almost made him regret his GP19 last year... Now in the VR46 family colors with Mooney in the crates, the now uncle of a Giuletta Rossi hoped for much better from this start of the season. So much so that he classified this stage in Doha as downright the worst experience of his career... He also speaks of a preparation problem on his Ducati already heard from the official team also equipped in GP22...
It is not near Luca marini that the official team Ducati who lived a shipwreck in Qatar last weekend will find cause for consolation. Like the redcoats, the half-brother of Valentino Rossi hoped for a lot from this first game of the year. After switching to the new Ducati GP22 and finishing third in the Mandalika test, the Mooney VR46 Racing rider and team were feeling optimistic. Places on the podium were possible this season, the team director even explained Alessio “Uccio” Salucci and the team manager Pablo Nieto during the official presentation of the team.
The 2022 season is still long with a total of 21 Grands Prix, but the start at Qatar was a major setback for Marini. He complained of a lack of front-end feel from Friday, crashed heavily in turn 1 of FP2 and missed valuable track time on his first bike. On Saturday, the 2 Moto2020 world vice-champion only qualified 17th, placing himself behind his teammate and MotoGP rookie Marco Bezzecchi equipped with GP21. Sunday “Bez” fell in the race, and Marini was 13e, collecting three points in the world championship.
« This weekend was a disaster. I think it was the worst of my whole career », assessed Luca marini. " Friday and Saturday nothing really worked well, my feelings on the bike were very strange and I had a lot of difficulty turning it in the corners. Given the start of the weekend, I couldn't expect much more on Sunday. On the positive side, at least for the race we solved the problem we had since Friday. We made changes and I regained normal and natural sensations when running. I felt like I was riding my motorbike again, like before in Indonesia. It is the most important ».
Luca Marini has the same speech as Bagnaia: “we are definitely still late”
However, the Italian of 24 years notes: “ we are definitely still behind, especially when it comes to electronics, I'm still missing something. But like I said, after the weekend started, the important thing was just to finish the race, collect information, to try the maps and try to understand, so that in Indonesia we are ready to show a normal weekend from Friday to Sunday ". And he adds: “without the strange things that happened this weekend”.
« We had to face new problems that had not arisen in Malaysia and Indonesia “, revealed the VR46 Ducati rider. “ It was very strange things, but it seems to be okay now. Me, my team and Ducati understood a little more after the first race, we must continue in this direction and above all develop the electronics to improve performance. We need to take a big step there, certainly with my team, but perhaps also with Ducati, with the new engine ».
« It is clear that we still have work to do ", said Marini. " It's a new bike and I know Ducati is also doing everything possible to get back to where it was last year and have the best bike on the grid. I am confident we can do it. You just have to work and stay calm, the season is still long. We'll get there. The other drivers are very fast, but I am also much stronger than last year. I just need a normal weekend, Friday to Sunday, like the others ", ended Luca Marini which therefore reveals a general problem in Ducati in the preparation and organization of the GP22…
MotoGP Qatar J3: ranking
Credit classification motogp.com
