Ducati, Tardozzi's admission: “I fear that Pedro Acosta…”

The Ducati team manager defends the choice of soft

“I said it at the beginning of the year, we're coming”. Pedro Acosta, from the height of his very long militancy in MotoGP – the test in Valencia at the end of 2023, a shakedown, two winter test sessions and three race weekends – he is convinced that Ducati is no longer so far away on a technical level and at least in judging from the order of arrival of the GP of the Americas it certainly seems like this. Maverick Vinales on the Aprilia dominated the weekend, also winning the GP despite being sent to eleventh position on the first lap in a carambola triggered by Jorge Martin (who 'got up' Bagnaia who in turn 'got up' Vinales) and Pedro Acosta he obtained the second podium in MotoGP, the first without any ifs or buts given that the GasGas rider had underlined on the eve of the GP of the Americas that he considered third place in Portimao a P4 in light of Vinales' technical knockout on the last lap.

Davide Tardozziteam manager of the official Ducati team, had declared after Qatar that Pedro Acosta would have been a podium rider by mid-season, but now he can only correct his aim as he declared when interviewed by Sky Sports MotoGP complimenting Vinales and Acosta: “Honor to them because these two riders made the difference this weekend, the Ducati as a bike confirmed a good performance. Pedro and Maverick made the difference, but let's work to further improve the bike and try to give our riders even more performance. I believe that Maverick is an unquestionable talent even if he has had ups and downs in his career, but he has managed to win with three different brands, and only great talents manage to do that. I think Pedro is on everyone's lips and in all the newspapers because he will be one of the riders of the future who will compete in the world championship in the future, and I fear for us again this year. Above all, I believe they are supported by good bikes and are making the difference.”

Tardozzi also defended the choice of the soft rear tire for all Ducati riders, while Vinales and Acosta raced with the medium: “We don't want to get down because a race like this didn't go very well because we didn't win, but we are still competitive. There are 18 more races and the championship is very long. The choice of tire for Ducati was absolutely spot on and this was demonstrated by Bastianini's time on the last lap. If other bikes have different characteristics and consume more and could not use the soft in the race, that's another matter. Pedro's tire in the Sprint was very worn, so I think the Aprilia and KTM would have worn the soft more than us. I think they made the right choices, but I don't think Ducati's choice was wrong.”