The Indianapolis GP race proved to be Ducati’s Caporetto for both the factory and satellite teams.
Wrong set-ups played havoc on the front tires (both the harder and softer choices) on the abrasive asphalt, gearbox problems, an over enthusiastic last lap last corner pass left all the Ducati riders except Randy de Puniet, wishing to get out of Indy as soon as possible and put the nightmarish weekend behind themHere’s what all the Ducati riders had to say:Randy De Puniet – 8th in race “I’m happy, this is my best race of the season! Bad start for the race when Loris touched me and I lost at least three positions, otherwise I could stay with the group and probably I could have fought for better positions.
But it’s ok, our pace, as I declared yesterday, has been steady and good until the end and this allowed me to overtake many riders in the second half of the race.
I’m satisfied with how things went today, the team has worked very well and after a difficult start of the season we all deserve a good result.
We needed it and I look forward to continue at this level also next week at Misano.
” Valentino Rossi – 10th“A number of things happened this weekend that contributed to making this a particularly difficult race: the crash yesterday in qualifying, which robbed some confidence and was part of the reason we had to start so far back on the grid, and today there was a problem with the gearbox.
The bike stuck in neutral six or seven times, and the first two caused me to go straight and lose time.
I found myself in last place, but I decided to do what I could to at least get some points.
In this morning’s warm-up, we had made a small change that let us improve the pace a little, but the race was really difficult.
We know that we have to work hard.
Ducati is doing that, and my team and I are as well, because we must try to not let up and to get the bike ready while we wait for technical updates.
”Nicky Hayden -14th (+2 laps)“It was a really tough day.
We thought the soft front tyre could be a good option for the race, but unfortunately it only worked for seven or eight laps.
Then I began to steadily lose ground until it even began shaking on the straightaways, and I had to come in.
Since you’ve got to finish to get points, I went back out, and it was actually worth getting two points.
I got a good start and was up front the first few laps, and that was the first time I put up a real fight in the dry all season.
My bike felt fast in a straight line, and with this new gearbox, I could get out of that last corner and keep guys in the draft early on.
We’re on our first race with this bike, and maybe we don’t know enough about what it needs.
Sorry to all my U.
S.
fans and the Ducati fans here who came to support us, but we’ll try again next week.
” Loris Capirossi – DNF “Since the fourth lap the bike did not respond as I wanted.
I always lost the front tire and risked falling at every turn.
At one point I could no longer manage the bike and I was forced to retire.
Just returned to the box we noticed that the front tire was very worn.
I’m so sorry that this happened in the race because during the whole weekend we have never had problems like that.
Not much to add, we look ahead and concentrate on Misano where we hope to get a good result in front of our fans.
”Héctor Barberá – DNF“It is a real shame that the race ended like this, after so many laps riding at the limit.
After the opening four laps I realised that the front tyre had practically melted away.
I made a sudden drop in pace, because I was trying to push the front end down and losing control on every corner.
What I did was improvise with my riding style, and it took some five or six laps to get back to feeling comfortable.
It should have been a lot sooner.
The important thing is that I have regained confidence and ridden comfortably again, despite not having the front tyre in good condition.
The last lap was going perfectly, until I reached the final sector.
I knew that the final turn would be tricky, because the tyre wasn’t responding at all and I could barely dip into the corner.
That had meant that De Puniet and Aoyama passed me beforehand.
I went all-or-nothing into the last corner, trying to regain a position, but unfortunately I lowsided.
I enjoyed myself out there though, and gave 100%.
We have taken a big step forward at this race and that leaves me satisfied, but I hope that we can continue like this and finish the race at Misano.
”Karel Abraham – DNF“Start of the race was disastrous.
I was confident I could get a good result after I made a good progress in the warm-up, but then I started to have a problems.
Valentino was behind me, but then he overtook me and made some gap.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to stay with him due to a problem with the front tire.
The front tire slided a lot and I almost crashed a few times.
I wasn’t able to continue in the race under these conditions and I decided to return to the pits.