Luigi Dall'Igna, race director at Ducati, made the trip last weekend to the Superbike World Championship in Imola. Certainly, it was to witness the first defeat of the season for the Bautista Panigale V4R couple who had won everything up until then. But the lead in the championship is still well held, and even more so since a round was canceled, which means one less chance for the competition to eat into the lead taken since the start of hostilities...
A cancellation which is also debated, but the fact is there: Kawasaki will not have been a success with two victories out of three possible. That being said, this setback should be considered as a simple incident. Because to listen to the Druid of Bologna, the formidable Panigale V4 R is not yet mature: “ we know we have strong points, but we also need to improve in certain areas and we are working to make the bike even more competitive " said Dall'Igna at WorldSBK.com.
Ducati has used the experience of the MotoGP project to create a war machine that will devastate the world championship battlefield. How important is the transfer of experience from Grand Prix racing? “ It is certainly important, and the MotoGP project is our priority. We are developing technologies that we want to bring as much as possible to the World Superbike Championship " said Dall'Igna.
But without Baptist, Ducati would not have won a race yet. “ I have known Álvaro since he was a 125cc rider, I know he is very strong. Maybe I believe in him more than he believes in himself » admits the Italian. “ I'm happy for him, but we're only at the start of the season, there's still a lot of racing to do and we need to keep our feet on the ground ". Precisely, Imola showed that the greens were still in the fruit…
