Head of Ducati Corse, the racing department, Gigi Dall'Igna made an assessment of the German GP weekend and besides praising Jack Miller's performance, he recognized that Francesco Bagnaia's abandonment was painful. The manager considered that the team needs to unite to pursue the only goal that is still missing: the MotoGP World Riders' Championship title.
Head of Ducati Corse, the racing division of the Borgo Panigale brand, Gigi Dall'Igna spoke of learning from the mistakes of the 2022 MotoGP season. Even assuming the shock of Francesco Bagnaia's abandonment at last weekend's German GP, the engineer stressed that the Italian house has a "great bike and, above all, excellent riders.
As in the Catalunya GP, Pecco started the race at Sachsenring among the favorites to win, but crashed on the third lap when chasing Fabio Quartararo, who took the lead in turn 1. With the crash, his fourth of the year, Bagnaia dropped to sixth place in the World Riders' Championship, 91 points behind the French Yamaha rider, who leads the race.
MOTOGP STANDINGS
▶️ Quartararo wins 3rd and extends MotoGP 2022 lead
Despite the bad outcome with Pecco, the race was not disastrous for Ducati. Johann Zarco secured second place, with Jack Miller overtaking Aleix Espargaró for third place already in the final part of the race.
Leaving for KTM, the Australian was praised by Gigi, not only for his performance in Germany, but for his contribution to the Desmosedici project.
"First of all, I want to pay tribute to Jack, reiterating all our appreciation for the loyalty and commitment he has always shown with talent and professionalism, as well as the team spirit with which he has contributed to the growth of our project," said Dall'Igna. "I am particularly pleased with his excellent race, stubborn and tenacious, rewarded by a podium, an unmistakable sign of intelligence and determination," he praised.
In addition, Dall'Igna highlighted the performance of Zarco and Pramac and also praised Luca Marini, who confirmed the growth shown since the Italian GP with a fifth place.
"Zarco's splendid reconfirmation at the top says a lot about the solidity and quality of the driver and the Pramac team, while I consider Marini's fifth place an exciting step in his and VR46's growth," he pointed out.
The manager, however, didn't hide that the highlight of the weekend was Pecco's retirement, but asked for Ducati's unity to overcome the difficult moment and pursue the final goal: the World Drivers' Championship title. The brand from Bologna has been champion only once, back in 2007, with Casey Stoner.
"Sadly, however, all the disappointment for Pecco's zero prevails, even more so after the umpteenth promising pole-position obtained, while our rivals deservedly achieved another decisive victory, with the world championship in mind," Dall'Igna commented. "Now it is essential that we feel like a team, knowing that we have a great bike and, above all, excellent riders. We still have to grow together, learn from our mistakes and humbly look for solutions we need to reach the one goal we still lack," he spoke.
"Come on, Ducati!" he concluded.
MotoGP returns to the track next week for the Dutch GP at Assen, the 11th round of the 2022 season.GRANDE PRÊMIO is following all the activities of the 2022 MotoGP World Championship.