DUCATI
Riders: Andrea Iannone and Andrea Dovizioso
IT’S BEEN SO CLOSE AND YET SO FAR for Ducati over the past couple of years. Ever since Gigi Dall’Igna took over at the end of 2013, following several seasons of abject defeat, the Bolognese have closed the gap on Honda and Yamaha. Now the gap is tiny but it’s still a gap.
Invariably, Iannone and Ducati are at the sharp end on lap times, but in some ways the gap seems to have grown this year, due to the change of tyres. Last year Ducati scored podium finishes at almost half the races because Dall’Igna has exorcised the bike’s notorious turning problems. This year that problem has resurfaced because the Ducati hasn’t adapted to the Michelin front as well as the other bikes.
“I don’t have a good feeling with the front,” says Dovizioso. “I don’t understand the limit, so it’s easy to crash. It’s difficult to turn the bike, not because of the bike but because the front grip isn’t good.”
Iannone agrees. “It’s difficult to push at the limit because the limit is very, very close all the time; so it’s easy to make a mistake,” he says.
Ducati are having a better time in other areas and have adapted well to the same-for-all software. However, Dall’Igna denies that Ducati have an electronics advantage over their rivals, despite their long-running relationship with Magneti Marelli. “The software we used last year and this year are completely different worlds,” he says. “For sure the unified software isn’t as sophisticated — it’s like what we used five or six years ago — but because it’s more simple, it’s actually more difficult to find a proper setup. The only reason we are doing well is because last year we worked a lot with the Open software on our Open bikes.”
Although the V4 Duke is the most powerful bike on the grid, with over 260 horsepower, Ducati have fewer problems with the wheelies than the other bikes because their winglets increase downforce. “The wings help a lot — it is completely crazy that they will be banned at the end of this year,” says Dall’Igna.