By leaving a MotoGP which offered him no future, Tito Rabat first resigned himself to trying the WSBK adventure, before embracing the cause and the category more openly. The former Moto2 World Champion trained extensively and assiduously with a Panigale V4S from which his R racing version is based. We therefore expected it to turn the corner during the first tests and the latter were disappointing. Whether in Misano or Barcelona, disappointment is the feeling that emerges, so much so that between the Spaniard and his new team, things are already heating up...
Tito Rabat en WSBK is on a Ducati, it is an attractive picture which only asks to represent a second part of a colorful career for the Spaniard. Unfortunately, for the moment, the mayonnaise is not setting and it is almost already turning sour. At the end of the last tests of Barcelona, which he finished only fourteenth on the time sheet, the one who achieved results 13 times in Grand Prix declared: “ I'm not happy because I'm not where I want to be ", said Rabat à speedweek. " On the positive side, after four days on this bike, the chattering has almost disappeared and that's a big step forward. At the moment, though, there are a lot of things I don't like about the bike ».
He specifies, intending to be diplomatic and explicit: “ I like the professionalism of the team, they want to win. To make the bike faster, I need help from the team. I need to better understand how I can go faster and find more grip. They work a lot but need to do their job better. They have to position the bike the way I want it, it's their job and Ducati's job. We still have a lot of work to do. If I knew how we could do the job better, I would be a team leader. But I ride the bike and I don't want to be crew chief ».
Tito Rabat: “We don’t have much time left”
We therefore note a tension. And the team thus quoted responds: “ compared to Misano we have made great progress and we are now closer to the configuration that Tito needs to be able to perform at his best ", declared the team director Marco Barnabo. " Our race pace is constant and quite fast, but we cannot get the most out of the new tires. We're too far from the top ". Then the Italian throws a barb: “ if we had to collect the best times in the sector, it would be better ».
After two days of testing Misano, then two more Barcelona, Rabat will consume another two days in Aragon in mid-April before the start of the 2021 world championship scheduled for MotorLand at the end of May.
« We don't have much time left to become competitive “, recalls the Moto2 world champion in 2014. “ We must take another step at least as big as that from Misano to Barcelona ". He finishes : " Ducati must also support us so that we can become competitive ».
