They can only be words of joy those uttered by Ducati Team Manager, Davide Tardozzi, at the end of the Sprint Race staged today at the Motegi circuit. In fact, it was his two riders, Francesco Bagnaia and Enea Bastianini, who monopolized the first two steps of an all-Ducati podium, completed by the third place of Marc Marquez.
"We are very happy, because on a day that could have been really difficult because of the weather, we did very well. Pecco and Enea were wonderful and the race was very good. Tomorrow the goal is the same: to gain points on Martin. And for Bastianini to try to win and attack - he said - In races you never know what happens, but I would say that for the moment we consider ourselves competitive. We have full confidence in the riders and the bike here goes particularly well."
Synergy, that with the Japanese track, highlighted by the fact that the Bologna-based manufacturer managed to place all eight of its bannermen in the Top 10, grabbing all the first seven positions in the race standings.
"As Ducati, we can't help but be super happy. Kudos to Dall'Igna and his team and, above all, to the guys back home, with whom we are in contact even on race weekends and who give us extraordinary help," Tardozzi stressed.
The Ravenna-based manager then reserved an honorable mention for the race of Bastianini, author of an electrifying duel with Marc Marquez; and for the qualifying performance of the eight-time Spanish champion, to whom only a pass on the green denied the pole position.
"Enea had a great race. Clearly Pecco slowed down on the last lap, having seen that he had a 1"3 advantage and at that moment two drops also fell, but Bastianini came in at 18 hundredths, so it's not like he was that far away (laughs ed.). He was great especially in the fight with Marquez. I really enjoyed it, because it was an honest, tough and beautiful battle between two superlative riders," he acknowledged.
"In qualifying, there was a delay in communication that probably also affected Marquez, who was quiet after he did that lap," he continued, "Beyond the rule, however, I don't think that those 5 centimeters for which he touched the green, and for which he was rightly taken off the lap, affected his great performance, because in my opinion he had done a really superlative lap.
Among the great protagonists of this Saturday's race was also the poleman Pedro Acosta, who dominated the race until the crash that took him out of the race on the ninth lap.
"Did I expect it to be so competitive? Absolutely yes, because here the KTMs are going very well and Acosta in particular is fast and competitive, so I expect it that way tomorrow as well - said Davide - Beyond the crash, though, I think he could have gone a little bit into a crisis with the rear tire in the last four laps, because on two or three occasions you could see that he was making smoke from the rear tire and that means he was skating. So, who knows how it would have ended if Pedro had not crashed. Maybe he would still have won, or maybe Pecco and the others would have caught up with him. We'll see how it goes tomorrow, when I think everyone or almost everyone will use the medium on the rear."
A Grand Prix that should benefit from somewhat more stable weather than what marked today.
"We're keeping our fingers crossed, also because what worries me the most in these conditions is that the riders don't get hurt, because it's very easy to crash or have highsides that you don't normally have," Tardozzi commented, before talking about his expectations for tomorrow: "I'm sure it will be a good race, because there will be at least three or four riders fighting from the start for the podium , and the spectacle will definitely not be lacking."
Automatic Translation by DeepL