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At Le Mans, Pecco Bagnaia, commenting on the high number of contacts in the race, had proposed a curious solution: "maybe it would be better to go back to the past, when there was a difference of 6 or 7 tenths between the factory bikes and the customer ones". The words of the world champion did not fail to reach the ears of Hervé Poncharal, owner of the Tech3 team and president of IRTA, who did not appreciate them at all.
"I was surprised to read such a declaration from him. I have a lot of respect and admiration for him, I could say that he is talking a load of bullshit - he commented bluntly in an interview with paddock-gp - Bagnaia, like every another rider, comes from Moto3, went through Moto2 and arrived in MotoGP in an independent team and he was happy to have a high-performance bike that allowed him to get noticed".
Clearly, Poncharal doesn't like this idea.
"We satellite teams have worked a lot with Dorna, with the FIM, with the MSMA, we managed to convince the manufacturers that they had to give us competitive bikes, that it was in their interest to promote young riders, to have more information - he recalled - In the end, now almost all the bikes on the track are new, only a few Ducatis are from last year but many are fast, I think it's fabulous. In France, there were independent teams in the first four positions, it's fabulous to see that the race for the title is wide open, that there is one point between Bezzecchi, a young rider on a Ducati from a private team, and Bagnaia, on the factory bike. It's nice for everyone, it's nice for the sport, and it allows us independent teams to find sponsors because we tell them that we're not just here to fill the grid, but also to get results. We can win races and aim for the title."
It seems that Hervé wants to rap Bagnaia’s knuckles a bit for what he said…
“When you are the reigning world champion, you have to think 7 times before saying something stupid. He said something enormously stupid, something unsportsmanlike - Herve doubled down - It's disrespectful to penalize the other bikes by 6 or 7 tenths, even towards his colleagues at VR46. I still respect Pecco a lot, but he disappointed me. However, this idea will have no impact on the MotoGP manufacturers."
