Ducati’s Alessandro Cicognani explains first ten rounds of 2011 MotoGP season – MotoGP news
Ducati’s Director of MotoGP Project Alessandro Cicognani has shared his views about the first ten rounds of the 2011 MotoGP season.
Along with Cicognani, Rizla Suzuki Team Manager Paul Denning was also present at the occasion. He also expressed his views about Suzuki’s season ride so far.
The Ducati project director claimed that the season start was hampered due to the fact that Valentino Rossi’s injuries had not healed. He was not able to push hard and fully participate in the winter test sessions held during the inter-season break.
Cicognani said, “Let’s just say that it was a difficult start, we were expecting a lot more, but we had some problems at the beginning with Vale recovering from his shoulder injury and Nicky finding the right feeling with the bike.”
On the other garage of Ducati pits, Nicky Hayden was struggling to find a better setup for the season start as both Ducati riders were facing some kind of problems.
After some effort, the American rider stepped up and scored a third place on the podium at Jerez. Hayden collected the first podium of the season for him and his Ducati Team. The Italian was charged and also made a third place finish at Le Mans, scoring
his maiden podium in the Ducati squad and the first for him in the 2011 season.
Now with a good effort at the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, the team has found the right path to improve its performance.
At the occasion, Paul Denning also accompanied Cicognani and expressed his views about the past ten rounds of the season and Suzuki’s establishment in the season. He shared a few words about the upcoming season preparations.
He said, “If we can keep improving the bike, and the rider’s confidence most importantly, we hope we can be in the front group. We still have a step to make, there is still a difference between the top six Hondas and Yamahas, it’s a step to take it there
but we are here to race, do our best and see what we can achieve.”
Alvaro Bautista is now fully fit to race and has shown his potential in the previous couple of rounds.
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