Lorenzo Dons Red with Ducati Move
Ducati luring Lorenzo in hope of MotoGP title contention
Article by Ben Curwen
Silly season for MotoGP seems to have almost finished before the actual season starts this year. Normally we are in the waning summer months and the championship points are shaking themselves out considerably before the rumours start to fly about. In fact, I fear for the journo’s come the hotter months as they may be left with little to debate in this respect. What will they fill the column inches with?
Lorenzo moving to Ducati sows up yet another 2017 ride in the paddock after Rossi’s early resigning in the year. The latter may have been a catalyst for Lorenzo’s departure although Ducati insist this is a dialogue that has going on for several years.
Ultimately team shakeouts are always of interest but largely the conversation is dominated by the current big factory teams; Yamaha, Ducati and Honda. As these teams typically attract (and can afford) the top riding talent they ultimately get first pick. Whilst these may shuffle a little, in many respects their incumbent riders have been very much that for some time. The importance of a top factory ride is critical at present for a hope of contending for race wins, let alone championships. Ducati’s last race win was 2010 in Philip Island with Casey Stoner and arguably Stoner’s greatest riding talent was his ability to ride around problems. A satellite bike hasn’t won a race since 2006 with Toni Elias at Estoril. Everything else has been either Yamaha or Honda.
In part the reason the Lorenzo move is interesting is that Ducati have not fared well in the championship for a sadly lengthy period. There were hopes of a Ducati resurgence with Rossi’s switch from Yamaha to Ducati in 2011. It could have been the ultimate PR coup with the arguably most famous Italian rider of all time with the top Italian marque in two wheeled racing. Not only is Rossi the ‘winningest’ rider in MotoGP history but he is also known for being a great development rider. It was not to be. Results were dismal and there seemed to be little evidence that Ducati were adapting their machine to suit their important rider acquisition. Rumours were that Rossi pleaded with Yamaha to return and be once more on a competitive bike. If Lorenzo had any degree of veto then he seemingly didn’t exercise it. This would unlikely have been the case today.
Anecdotally the Ducati’s poor performance was an ego issue at Ducati. Seemingly before the GP15 machine Ducati was unwilling to accept that anything was wrong with their bike. Very few including the riders and actual mechanics working on the Desmosededici agreed. The Ducatisti no doubt shared their frustration and disappointment and I would imagine actually so did Yamaha and Honda. After all the point of this is racing. More bikes contending for races means more excitement, bigger audiences and greater investment.
Ducati’s two current riders, namely Andrea Dovisioso and Andrea Ianonne, are both highly skilled riders and have certainly benefitted from Ducati’s development program finally moving forward to sort the machine. However, their season start for 2016 has been a torrid affair with mechanical issues and being nerfed out of races by an errant Honda and even one another. Not the ideal scenario for two riders hoping to retain their seats.
Telling comments from Davide Tardozzi at Jerez pre race reveal where the Andrea’s stand. Ducati clearly do not believe that either is capable of taking the Desmo to a championship win. He said that they need a rider that has proved he can do it and hence the recruitment of Lorenzo’s services. Whichever Andrea remains, he is going to be very much number two to Ducati’s’ championship hopes with Lorenzo. It may well be the case that neither Andrea stick around for this option in the end and both rider’s management teams are known to be actively marketing their riders to other teams. Either way Lorenzo’s top spot at Ducati is assured and he might well be making a very well judged time to move to a team poised to make a very serious attempt at the championship in 2017. 