We know since the Johann Zarco case that you have to choose your words carefully when you are not spontaneously happy with your bike. Otherwise, you expose yourself to the ire of your employer. At KTM, we saw the result. Now Álvaro Bautista is taking a swipe at Ducati about his work on the Panigale V4R this season, in WSBK. Will the reds like it? We do not know. But it is also true that the same Bautista will leave the Italian firm at the end of this season for a destination which is not yet officially known…
Everything had started so well between Ducati and Alvaro Bautista, newcomer to MotoGP in Superbike. Phillip Island, Buriram, Aragón and Assen were all demonstrations of a domination which was to bend the season long before its conclusion. But we know the rest. A turnaround that hurt. Has the time come to settle scores?
In any case, Alvaro Bautista gives his version of the facts. “ You can't imagine what it's like in the turns while watching on TV. I struggle to decelerate, turn the bike around corners and accelerate » growls the Spaniard.
« It's easy to say "Bautista wins because his machine is a ball", but there are 15 turns and only one straight » notes the Spaniard, who then questions the work carried out in Bologna: “ the bike is virtually unchanged. We haven't had any updates during the season. From the start we wanted the bike to corner better and be more stable, as was the case at Jerez in January, and we didn't improve during the season. So I think Chaz Davies' comments and mine are the same: we have the same problem, but we're not doing anything about it. »
According to Baptist, the victories at the start of the season masked the weaknesses: “ we won on tracks where the drawbacks were less obvious, but it becomes obvious when you get to the tracks where you can feel the problems better. Ducati knows the problem, but doesn't know the answer. At the moment we have nothing to solve it. »
Chaz Davies, the team member cited, specifies for his part: “ the motorcycle is very sensitive to the slightest modification. It is physically exhausting to drive, it is not very well balanced. In Bologna there are smart people who can help us make the machine a little more user-friendly on tracks like Portimão. It was really exhausting to drive there. »
The Panigale V4R owes a lot to the Grand Prix Desmosedici. Listening to its drivers, it seems to suffer from the same defect in terms of maneuverability in turns. And we see the same inability of Ducati to resolve the problem…
