In 2021, Pecco Bagnaia took four wins and finished second in the world rankings by missing the title by 26 points, at the end of an incredibly solid second part of the season. Ducati has won more races than any other manufacturer in 2021, four with Bagnaia, two with Jack Miller and one with Pramac team rookie Jorge Martin, for a total of seven. This allowed Ducati to win the constructors’ title for the second consecutive year.
At the end of the 2021 season, the world runner-up had stated that the Ducati was a perfect bike, but that in Bologna they had managed to further improve the 2022 prototype in the Jerez tests at the end of the year, in which the Piedmontese went very fast. Pecco said Ducati has implemented the feedback that all riders had given for the 2022 bike and believes it was ready for a race already at Jerez.
“I think Ducati listened to all the riders a lot: me, Jack, Zarco and Martin, because I asked for a simpler bike. Everyone says Ducati is the simplest, fastest, best bike to use, ”Bagnaia told the Motorsport Tank Slappers podcast. “But that’s something I don’t understand, I’m not saying that another bike is better, because I haven’t tried it. So it is very difficult to say something about the other bikes without having tried them ”.
“I had asked for a bike that is easier to ride on tracks with fast corners, because our bike isn’t that easy in those situations. But with the new fairing I started to feel better, even if it still has some weaknesses. So I’m sure the engineers are working a lot on that aspect. In the Jerez test, our time was incredible because I did it with a full tank and medium tires. It was crazy when we think it was a new bike, and every time you start with a new bike you have to adapt. I started well, I worked a lot in the two days and on the second day I already felt fine, we could already go to the race. If the race had been the next day, I would have done it with that bike. So the Ducati engineers have done an incredible job with next year’s bike and I’m sure we will have some new surprises for the tests in Malaysia ”.
Pre-season testing for the 2022 season will begin in Malaysia, Sepang, on February 5. It will be two days of official testing, before flying to Indonesia for another three days of testing at the Mandalika runway the following week.
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