Andrea Dovizioso is determined to turn around Ducati now that he is part of the Borgo Panigale team project.
Italian website omnicorse.
it had a chance to interview the Italian rider who was present at Ducati factory when they took delivery of the seven new MAN TGX 18.
480 4×2 trucks that will transport their MotoGP team around the world.
Here’s an excerpt from the interview:On missing the recent private test at Austin: “For us a trip to Austin would have be problematic.
And we knew from the start that we would have been behind the teams that tested at the American track.
The important thing is to be aware of it.
We preferred to devote ourselves to the development of the GP13, because the Austin round is the second race of the season and comes at a time when we won’t have important developments on the bike.
It was right to stay and work at home, even if it is obvious to everyone that it would have been better to be there.
Let’s say it wasn’t important in a project that will last two years.
” Ducati will be at the Circuit of the Americas for the launch of their street bikes, will you be going just to get a chance to put in a few laps?“They asked me and I decided against it.
I had a similar experience when we went to Aragon for the first time and we tried to learn the circuit with production bikes and then Casey went on to win the race and he was the only one who didn’t even come to the test.
You don’t need to ride a bike that is very different from the one you use in the race and is eight seconds slower than a MotoGP bike.
You won’t find the references and the secrets that you need to gap those extra one or two tenths of second necessary to win a race.
Spies and Hayen will be going to Austin, I’m not.
“ Marquez is amazing everyone with his Honda, do you think he can he win the championship in his first year? “Maybe yes, but he has got to deal with Lorenzo first and he is hard to beat.
Staying ahead of Jorge who makes no mistakes and is strong everywhere is very different than being just fast … “.
You have become the darling of Ducati Corse, the squad has seem you more often in a few months than they saw Valentino in two years … “The human connection is a good thing.
It’s one of the reasons why I chose this project.
” About the Desmosedici GP13, frame, engine and electronics which are the things to promote or reject? “I can answer that quickly enough, we’re behind on all three fronts.
And we have to work on each component and even if in some respects we may be close to the others, it wouldn’t be enough to close the gap, because the others are very good and have the strongest riders.
If we want to beat them we have to become better than they are”.
In Ducati’s 2013 plans is the desire to return to the podium.
Is there a track that the bike is more adaptable than say others? “It will not happen in the first half of the season and we’ll see how how we develop the Desmosedici during the season.
It’s a question that haunts us too … At the beginning it’s my job to give feedback, but then the engineers need to understand the information that I gave them and, above all, must find the solution to the problems.
Let’s say that it’s very complicated … “.
Do you already know what place you’ll have on the grid? “It isn’t difficult to know: there are twelve MotoGp bikes and four are Ducati’s.
During the Sepang 2 tests Smith ended up behind me and Nicky, but to fight Bradl, Bautista and Crutchlow will be difficult, because they have bikes that are very similar to the official ones.
Since the rules are still the same, I would say that there was some leveling in the upwards sense: the bikes are very competitive.
And next year there will be rule changes so it is normal that this year there haven’t been any revolutions, but only evolutions.
” What are you missing to become a winning rider? “In Yamaha and Honda I had good bikes, among the best in the world, but I’ve never been at the center of the project.
And this is not to justify my results.
Because I know that Casey, Dani and Lorenzo were very strong.
Now, I hope to be in a different situation: in Ducati I finally feel … part of the project.
If we work well, I will draw a great benefit: I will become a winner.
This is the card that I want to play while I’m at Ducati … “.