Ducati technical boss terms Valentino Rossi as a caged lion during Misano round – MotoGP news
Ducati Team technical boss Filippo Preziosi has expressed his views about the effort and potential of the factory rider Valentino Rossi.
He said that Rossi is like a “lion in a cage” which can be a strong threat to its rivals once unleashed with an improved Ducati Desmosedici GP.
Preziosi said, “The other companies have asked to reduce the tests just for Valentino. We don’t think the crucial point is the number of days. The crucial point is to interpret the information that comes from our riders in the right way, design the right
part and test properly the parts and then the last thing is to have the right rider and we have it. They know how dangerous he is because the lion is in the cage. When we open the cage it will be very dangerous.”
After racing in 13 rounds, he has only scored a single podium finish on third place at Le Mans. It was only possible after two riders Dani Pedrosa and Marco Simoncelli dropped out of the top riders’ squad.
Since the winter testing, Rossi has been complaining about the understeer issue which has restricted him from stepping on the podium.
Preziosi made the statement during the San Marino round in Italy. He was asked whether Ducati was asking Dorna Sports to increase the inter-season testing time span to help Rossi close in on his Honda and Yamaha rivals.
However, the technical boss did state this in other words and defended the potential in Rossi. He also said that the team is now accompanied with a great rider who understands the characteristics of a bike. He is an expert in collecting the exact feedback
from the bike and turns it into a progressive analysis.
Rossi’s expertise was seen when he approved the 2012 chassis and suggested to fuse it with an 800cc engine forming a GP11.1. Somehow, it also did not last long as challenger but the testing has not stopped. Recently the Italian rider has tested an FTR developed
aluminium chassis in GP12 at Mugello.
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