Ducati Corse’s sporting director, Paolo Ciabatti, retraces Pecco Bagnaia’s journey towards his first world title in the MotoGP class.
After the first ten races of the 2022 season it was almost impossible to predict the world victory of I’m sorry Bagnaia. Fabio Quartararo led the standings with a 91-point lead over the Ducati rider from Turin and seemed to be on his way to his second title astride the Yamaha. Instead, starting from the Assen Grand Prix, a turning point began, which became aware only after the summer break, when Pecco collected 4 consecutive victories.
In truth, Ducati has never stopped believing in it, even after the crash of its new champion at the Sachsenring. The MotoGP title seemed like a dream, a fairy tale, but one that could still come true, because it was palpable that bad luck had raged on the Desmosedici GP of the VR46 Academy rider, that the classification was a lie. The worldwide success was also a consequence of the debacle of Yamaha and Quartararo in the second half of the championship, unable to defend himself under the blows of the Bagnaia – Ducati duo.
Pecco Bagnaia from -91 to world champion
A triumph resulting from the great work carried out also on the upper floors of the House of Borgo Panigale, capable of fielding no less than eight bikes on the grid. And farsighted in having bet on the rider from Chivasso even before he became Moto2 champion in 2018. “No doubt he can now go very fast on any track – explained the sporting director Paolo Ciabatti -. We can’t consider the first races, because at that stage the GP22 wasn’t a perfect racing bike“.
Fabio Quartararo he was also able to take advantage of a still precarious situation in the Ducati garage, where the GP22 still hadn’t sorted out every detail after the winter break and the preseason. “But from the Jerez GP (I sin) he has always been in front, he has always fought for the win. Of course, there were crashes at Le Mans, for example, at the Sachsenring. In Barcelona he was really unlucky (landed by Nakagami at departure, ed). That’s why we were 66 points behind Fabio Quartararo before the Silverstone GP“.
In the second part of the MotoGP World Championship it was impossible to stop the avalanche Bagnaia, author of only one mistake at Motegi, when a few laps from the checkered flag he tried to overtake Fabio Quartararo to give him a world championship point. At Phillip Island the longed-for overtaking on the direct rival of the Yamaha and taking the lead in the standings: “We knew that Pecco is an exceptional driver. In the summer we knew that if we did our job well it would be difficult to win the title, but anything was still possible… he performed excellently – concluded Paolo Ciabatti -, it felt perfect on this bike“.
