‘Ducati’s problem is of their own making’
The way Marquez is marching towards his sixth MotoGP title in seven years is marvellous to watch. But not even he could have expected Ducati to help him along the primrose path.
Grands Prix racing resumes with a double-header this weekend in Brno before heading to the RedBull ring, and it’ll be the pretty much the last chance for anyone to do anything about ‘Marc the Merciless’ and the mighty RC213V.
‘Anyone’, to be more specific, meaning Ducati. Yamaha have already missed the 2019 boat. Suzuki got on just as the gangplank was being raised and are still trying to steady their ship.Aprilia and KTM, meanwhile, are in steerage.
But Ducati have a particular problem entirely of their own making. Their two factory riders have started taking chunks out of one another.
Dovizioso lags behind Marquez by 58 points, Petrucci by 64. How different it might be if the Italian team-mates were really as good
‘The riders are taking chunks out of each other’
mates as they said they were at the start of the season.
Take for instance the Italian GP. Dovi had a good chance of a win until Petrucci barged him to third on the last lap so losing nine points. Or last time out in Germany: both were struggling somewhat but did Petrucci really have to steal fourth back from the older rider with two laps to go?He finished less than a tenth of a second ahead, but had stolen another two points.
That makes 11, which would reduce Dovi’s deficit to 47. Still big, yes, but less than the current cushion. As it is, Marquez could stay at home for the next two races. Even if Dovi won both he’d still be ahead. But given the way Petrucci is riding, and even though Brno and especially the Red Bull Ring a week later are great Ducati tracks, there’s no guarantee that Dovi would win. Cast your minds back to the start of this season and you’ll remember how Petrucci seemed overcome with gratitude and even a little syrupy as he described the relationship with his new older team-mate. Instead of the standard uneasy non-alliance (the first person one must beat, and all that), Dovi had opened all the doors. He was sharing his home town, his training regime, his sports psychologist, and all the little Ducati secrets he’d learned over six years on the Desmo.
He must be regretting it now.