MotoGP, the team managers of Bagnaia and Martin talk about the World Championship

The Qatar GP is the 19th and penultimate stage of the 2023 World Championship, which began on March 26 in Portugal in Portimao. The season will end next week, as per tradition in Valencia, with the Valencian Community GP. Bagnaia defends a 14-point lead over Martin in the title race

In the red corner of Francesco Bagnaia’s official Ducati there is a man of many battles. “White Feather”, as Gino Borsoi calls Davide Tardozzi, as a Superbike rider and then as team manager, he has seen many hot days.

Tardozzi, we’re almost there.

“I see closing it in Qatar as difficult. For Pecco it will be important to increase the gap before Valencia, where I believe Jorge will have an exceptional race. For Pecco, in my opinion, this race is much more important”.

“I wouldn’t want to arrive with just a few points, anything can happen in a single race. If the advantage is consistent, you can manage.”

There is a beautiful balance.

“Because they are both having an exceptional championship, it is also difficult to say that one deserves more than the other. Pecco had a wonderful season up until Barcelona, ​​then Martin’s time came. They deserve to fight until the end.”

“Absolutely calm. But aware that the battle is tough. We talk about it among ourselves, he knows how strong Martin is. But I don’t see him as fearful, and I think he showed it in Sepang.”

In Malaysia, was pole more important or that overtaking Martin on the outside in the race?

“That 4th lap, in which he reiterated his strength to Martin, and then trailed him by two tenths per lap. I think it was an exceptional motivation to do well here.”

You have seen Pecco in the last three years in which he fought, in comebacks, with Quartararo and now, with Martin. Change something?

“No. There is always someone who can be stronger in a race or half a championship, but Pecco is now deserving the leadership just as, if he wins, he will deserve the World Championship. He was the real dominator.”

What do you like most about Pecco?

“Since Jerez there has been a maturation in the race strategy. The mistakes at Termas and Austin were very serious and he took advantage of them. On Sunday in Sepang perhaps he could have even risked finishing second, but it was too important to finish in front of Martin” .

It’s a season finale poisoned by the tire case.

“Unfortunately, it has become a problem for the engineers. Deciding with what pressure to start is becoming too important. We saw how much difficulty Pecco was in the Sprint and Jorge in the race.”

“His aggression. If he manages to manage it, he will have good room for growth. He has innate speed and going fast straight away, from the first corner, made the difference in the last part of the season. He will become important.”

Bastianini ally of Pecco?

“Enea received important help from Pecco on Saturday morning, on the track and psychologically. Small things that make you make the leap in quality. It’s well known that Enea is going fast, that click that arrived peremptorily in Malaysia was missing, and I think he’s aware that Pecco’s help in this.”

That’s why the talk of his relegation to Pramac was counterproductive.

“Chatter is the right word, brought out by others. Then, as Ciabatti (Ducati sporting director; ed.) said, it’s clear that making evaluations had a logic before Sepang. But this is not the time to talk about it.”

“Pecco must race a race based on his strengths, braking and corner entry. If he manages to ride with the fluency of Malaysia and the determination he has especially in braking, I believe he can absolutely finish ahead of Jorge, who instead has in the distance corners and the aggressiveness of the first laps are the strong points. Pecco will have to keep Jorge behind, or not lose him, because in the second part he will have a better chance of victory.”

In Jorge Martin’s purple corner there is Gino Borsoi, a former 125 rider, trained in the court of Jorge Martinez (6 World Championships between 125 and Moto3), who dreams big on his debut in MotoGP with Pramac.

“More than ready. Pressure and tension have increased, when you understand that you can fight for the first three positions, which then become the first two, things change. But I think they have more pressure. Regardless of the ending, we did an incredible season. If the icing on the cake arrives, perfect, otherwise it’s fine.”

Meanwhile Pramac is about to take home the Team World Championship.

“Absolutely not. I mean, when I was racing I always had those little things to do, now I’m more about a job well done.”

So far you have succeeded.

“During a season you always make some mistakes. We’re concentrating, but you can never predict everything. We were at -64 points, we were first, I’d say we worked well.”

Are the 14 points a lot or a few?

“If I had the choice, I would prefer to have them. But there aren’t many.”

“Full-bodied. We’re racing on two tracks where we’ve always been strong, our minds are prepared and positive.”

Do you see Losail and Valencia as more favorable to you?

“I can’t say this. First because I have great respect for Pecco, he’s in the lead and he’s the champion. He has the team, the bike and in 2022 he recovered a lot of points from Quartararo, he knows how to manage, especially the last part of the season where there is this constant nervousness about the result. But we are aware that we are on two tracks where Jorge has always been strong.”

What will make the difference?

“Steady nerves. Now Pecco doesn’t even have the tire pressure joker anymore, we’re starting from scratch. In any case, the pressure will decide, between that of the people, the drivers and the tyres. Let’s hope the latter doesn’t have an impact, it would be sad absolute”.

Are you Martin’s psychologist?

“It would be useful for me too, I don’t know if I can be for him.”

“Generally not, but I’m experiencing this final in a way that never happened to me in the years in which we played for the championships with Martinez.”

Is it very different in MotoGP?

“It’s a very different pressure, even internally, because we are a satellite team and if we beat the official one it will be exceptional, strange and, in some ways, even a little problematic for Ducati. Even if they have shown incredible fairplay, and I’d like to underline this , because no House would have allowed such a thing.”

“Yes, because I know how Gigi (Dall’Igna; ed.) thinks and how they work at Ducati. It’s thanks to them that we are having an incredible season without damaging ourselves.”

What if Jorge wins and is moved to the official team?

“The question isn’t for me. It would be a hard blow for us, but it would also be a deserved award. We have a great feeling with Jorge, we talk to each other, I try to give him the advice I can, obviously not about riding”.

“Ah, Pecco is a tough nut to crack, he gets great results on Sundays… How do you win? You need… a Martin. If you don’t have a driver like Jorge, it’s almost impossible to beat Pecco today.”

“Johann is a Pramac rider, his teammate is fighting for the title and if needed there will be orders. We talked about it and in any case he must also think about finishing 5th in the World Championship”.