The 2021 factory Ducati team featured a completely new line-up of Jack Miller and Pecco Bagnaia after the departures of Andrea Dovizioso and Danilo Petrucci. Miller as the more experienced rider was expected to lead the title charge while Pecco was expected to play the supporting role. However, the roles got reversed as the season progressed and Ducati Corse sporting director Paolo Ciabatti has now spoken about the team’s expectations and the long list of promising riders they have
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Will Ducati Replace Jack Miller Next Year?
While speaking to Speedweek, Paolo began by stating that they would start losing riders to other factories if they are not provided with factory bikes
“We recently had four factory riders on the current factory bikes. Then you need to think about what you can offer the talents of the future. And if you only have four places, it will always happen that sooner or later a rider will get a better offer from another team or factory”
He also pointed out how every rider on a Ducati cannot get the latest spec bike
“No manufacturer can enter ten riders for MotoGP and give everyone a good place. Now we have a lot of young people under contract with Martin, Bastianini, Marini, Di Giannantonio and Bezzecchi. Most of them are 24 years old or younger”
He further suggested that they have plenty of promising candidates
“We will have eight MotoGP riders on the field in 2022. At the moment we have enough promising candidates for our best positions”
In a separate interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport, he summed up his words by speaking about the expectations from their factory riders
“There is no point in hiding it. We expected Miller to fight for the title. Whereas for Pecco we would have been happy to see him constantly in the top five. Instead, things turned out differently”
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Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro has suggested that “maybe Marc [Marquez] has a broken arm” [Visor Down]
“Normally someone like him does everything to ride, everyone knows that. I don’t know if ‘concussion’ is really the right word, I think it’s something worse”, he expanded
Moto3 rider Dennis Foggia whose title challenge ended because of a crash caused by Darryn Binder has explained that “when [Binder] came to [his] garage to apologise, what [he] remembered was what happened last year… with him again” [Motorcycle Sports]
“This year, in the first race of the season… him again. It’s always the same rider doing these things, and next year he will compete in the MotoGP class”, he stated
Newly crowned Moto3 champion Pedro Acosta “spent the last lap crying, [He] can only thank the whole team, Aki Ajo, KTM and Red Bull” [MotoGP]
“At the beginning of the season I had nothing and they gave me a family. Thanks to all the people who told me to believe in me and all the people who work away from the spotlight and who work hard every day in the paddock”
“Thanks also to my family, to all the other riders, the title is for all these people and it is thanks to all these people that this title was possible”
Tech3 KTM’s Danilo Petrucci “tried to bring [his] experience but [KTM] decided to continue with their knowledge and in that aspect, I was useless for them”
“The only thing I said was ‘if they don’t listen to me then I’m just a rider who weighs 15 or 20 kilos more’”
“But I have six years of experience with another manufacturer and I was riding a factory bike for a few years. I tried to bring that experience but it wasn’t possible”
Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales has suggested that “one of the strongest reasons why [he] came to Aprilia, [was his] good relationship with Aleix [Espargaró]”
“We are not going to attack each other but we are going to help each other and this is very important because we can talk about how we can improve”
Retired MotoGP world champion Casey Stoner “would say that probably [his] strong point was [his] lack of pride. A lot of riders have “pride”, they don’t want to change, they don’t want to adapt”
“They want the bike to be adapted to you. They talk about it all the time: [the bike] doesn’t suit my style, I can’t get a good feeling. If it’s not happening, make it happen”, he added
“If the bike doesn’t work for you, you work for the bike. There’s always a way around it and that’s why I was quick to adapt to changing conditions because of my lack of pride”, he concluded
Is Jack Miller’s place at the factory Ducati team at risk after 2022?
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