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Rabat: "My time in MotoGP is over. Marquez will go flat out"

"I want to have fun in Superbike and Ducati promised me the best if I am in front. I met Mir and Marquez: Joan has his feet on the ground, I saw Marc with Alex: when he gets back on the bike he will be strong, Marc is Marc"

MotoGP: Rabat: "My time in MotoGP is over. Marquez will go flat out"

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The controversy over Tito Rabat’s move to Superbike to free Luca Marini's place in the third Ducati team, held sway for months. Pressure from Dorna and the welcome from Ducati, which found a place for him in the Barni team, must not have been extraneous to his decision.

So in the end, the former 2014 Moto2 world champion left MotoGP.

"At the beginning I didn't accept it - Tito told AS - but my time in MotoGP is over, a period that wasn’t the happiest in my life. For the past two years, I've had a hard time. I like racing and I want to be able to have fun riding bikes that have speed, horsepower, and go up to 300 and force you to work hard ”.

But what really convinced Rabat to make the leap? Certainly not the money…

“I was able to speak with Ciabatti and Dall'Igna and I think the project is worthwhile. I went to meet the team in Italy and I had great sensations. It reminded me a little of the times in the Marc VDS team. The whole team came to see me a couple of weeks ago and I came back from Italy with a smile on my face. They gave me a Panigale 1100, it's not my bike, it's not the Superleggera, but I can train with it on the circuit. I will do some laps in Almeria and Cartagena and maybe in Portimao. There will probably be other MotoGP riders too, Martin, maybe Mir ”.

The goal will be to have fun, as well as train…

“I will race without a retainer, but I won’t pay anything to race either. I want to be able to show my potential, fight for the podium. In Ducati they promised me a bike to stay in front, but I have no illusions about this because it is the same thing they promised me first in Honda and then in Ducati. In this case, however, Gigi Dall’Igna and Paolo Ciabatti have promised me that if I am in front I will not be lacking in anything".

Rabat is close friends with both Mir and Marquez and his impressions of the two MotoGP champions, the new and the outgoing one, are interesting...

“Joan is a good guy, down to earth. He is an organized, slow type. He doesn't have the title in mind. I saw Marc following his brother Alex while he was doing motocross. He had his arm slung around his neck but Marc is Marc and when he gets back on the bike he will go flat out ”.

 

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