As often shown this season, Ducati has paid for inconstancy, for mistakes or bad luck. This is the case in Race 1 in San Juan, where Scott Redding looked like he should be Toprak Razgatlioglu’s only rival, but he lost every opportunity to fight at Turn 1 of the first lap. Ready, go, the British loses control of his Panigale V4R in a strange way and returns to last position, making himself the author of a great comeback that brings with him so much regret, if you think about what he could have done had he not slipped.
A Ducati in great shape at El Villicum, therefore, with Redding aiming to improve his position in the standings, but who must say goodbye to the hopes of the world championships and also to overtake in the general Jonathan Rea: “Unfortunately at the first corner I lost the rear, maybe I opened the throttle too early and lost the rear. Anyway it was a really strange and sudden fall: we will have to study the data to understand what happened. Too bad because we had a good pole position, even if I must admit it was a bit unexpected. I knew I had a good pace even if maybe not enough to stay in the lead for the whole race but still enough to allow me to fight with the leading group ”.
The world championship is now far away, but the weekend and the season are still not: “I will continue to give my best and I will not give up, because the goal is always to win. Clearly the window for the title has narrowed a lot, with five races to go until the end of the season. I will aim to win both in the Superpole Race and in Race 2 ”.
The regret increases when we look at the result of Michael Ruben Rinaldi, who in the end managed to get a Ducati on the podium. The rider from Romagna started from ninth place and, also author of a solid race, “took the place” of his teammate in the first three positions.
Despite the podium, Rinaldi does not show great enthusiasm and is satisfied with the result but not with the day as a whole: “It is clear that the result obtained is positive, but regrets remain for the qualifying which compromised the first part of the race. . However, I must underline the work done with the team after Superpole, we made some changes and we took some risks that allowed us to have a very competitive pace. I will try to push hard in the Superpole Race to start in a better position in Race 2 ”.
Michael Ruben Rinaldi, Aruba.It Racing – Ducati
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images