Ducati sees the 2022 MotoGP title slipping away. Pecco Bagnaia makes his mea culpa, Davide Tardozzi asks for more concrete.
About Luigi Ciamburro de Motoracing
The four zeros accumulated in the first part of the MotoGP championship weigh heavily on the ranking of Pecco Bagnaia. If the Ducati Desmosedici has found stability in its evolution and performance on the track, it lacks a real spearhead capable of taking into account the conquest of the world championship on its own. The Piedmontese driver has all the cards in hand to succeed, at least from a technical point of view, but on a personal level, a final step is necessary. Although difficult to accept or admit, this is the real obstacle for the Italian.
At the end of the first free practice session à Assen, contested in the rain, the best lap goes to Jack Miller, always at the top when the weather conditions are extreme. Pecco Bagnaia falls out of the top 10, but nothing worrying in view of the decisive FP3 of the afternoon and tomorrow. During Thursday's debriefing, he offered a lucid analysis of his situation. “ We show that we are still very fast, but it is no use if you are not the strongest, this is the main difference between me and Fabio. It's important to start from pole, but the step I have to take is to get stronger. He manages to make a difference there ».
Tardozzi: “it has to be done on Sunday"
The skill of bagnaia is indisputable, on the flying lap he showed himself to be without equal. But faced with a Fabio Quartararo who is never wrong, it takes an extra mental trigger to aim for the MotoGP title. The team manager Davide Tardozzi echoes the words of the young pilot. “ He must be aware of the speed on the track. Pecco in addition to being very fast is a very intelligent guy, he understood that being fast only on Friday or Saturday counts for nothing, it has to be done on Sunday. He wanted to take charge of everything that happened in the last races, he became aware of a whole series of situations and we hope it will be stronger in the future ».
Everything has to go in the right direction when you want to fight for the world title and even the technical team at Borgo Panigale made mistakes during the winter break. In the decisive months for the evolution of the Desmosedici GP22, certain symptoms of indecision appeared during winter testing, when bagnaia et Miller have opted for a 2021-2022 hybrid engine specification, unlike other official drivers who have adopted the latest 2022 version.
« Our rivals have improved significantly » – admitted Gigi Dall'Igna at MotoGP.com -. “ We want to regain the advantage we had last year. Now we need to think about what it takes to improve. The goal is to win the championship, but it's not easy...The other manufacturers worked better than us during winter testing and were able to progress further. ».
