“Time will tell whether this decision was right or not”
Ducati’s decision to promote Marc Marquez to the official team has sparked controversy, to which Claudio Domenicali wanted to respond. Speaking to Sky Sport, he said: “It was a very difficult decision for us because we love Martin so much: in the end, the choice was Marc or Jorge, who has been with us for a long time and is very strong. Time will tell if this decision was right or not. The choice of Marquez is divisive, much more so in Italy than in the rest of the world due to his history, his way of riding and what has happened in the past. What I read is that no one questions his talent, but several people have very different opinions on his history”.
“You have to measure your energy well”
With Martin heading to Aprilia next year, Enea Bastianini to KTM and Pramac to Yamaha, the competition appears to be enriched, but Domenicali said: “We hope not, in the sense that we need the riders, we need the bike, the technique, we need to dose our energies well. There is also a general problem of sustainability in this environment, in which there are several companies that are making choices that in my opinion are not very sustainable, but that is my opinion. We pay great attention to making sure that the company is one: the races, the families in Borgo Panigale. And also to balancing what we spend to develop the bike with the costs for the riders”.
On those who want Ducati far from the philosophy it has adopted in recent years, that of growing young riders, the manager promptly responded: “I have heard that we no longer have a strategy for young riders, I think this is denied by the facts, Fermin Aldeguer is one of the promising riders and will be with us next year. So not only are we not changing our strategy, but we want to strengthen it”.
With “Diggia” the agreement is close…
If the official team has been decided, the last pieces of the market are missing, that is, choosing the riders who will race in the VR46 team and who will be Alex Marquez’s teammate in Gresini. Domenicali admitted: “Diggia is a rider we like a lot, with VR we are working to bring home this very objective. I think he has grown a lot, so we would be happy if we could keep him. We are also close, which is a good thing. For Fermin we should decide based on how all the boxes fit together and what is the best setup between VR and Gresini”.
