SBK | Zambenedetti: “It’s easy to cry and penalize your rivals. We react”

After two years of dominance, Ducati finds itself this year not only fighting with more competitive opponents, but also chasing. In Donington, in fact, Alvaro Bautista arrives in second place, behind the leader Toprak Razgatlioglu. The Turk took the lead of the Superbike World Championship in Misano, after taking advantage of some difficulties of the reigning champion and scoring a hat-trick.

Ducati, however, did not sit back and watch and, during this month spent between Misano and Donington, worked on the aspects to improve in order to return to being ahead of everyone in the race, but above all in the championship. Marco Zambenedetti and his colleagues from GPOne: “We arrive at this appointment after a tough weekend like the one in Misano, but I am of the opinion that one race does not define the World Championship”.

“We have lost the top spot in the standings, but we are not giving up before time, and against Toprak and BMW it is not over yet. In recent weeks we have worked, analyzing what we did in Misano and we have looked for solutions to restart with greater competitiveness. The last test proved interesting and the fruits of our work could already be seen at Donington. Now come tracks where Toprak has always been very strong, but we are not giving up because they are aware of what the potential could be”, explained the Ducati SBK Technical Coordinator.

One of the reasons why Ducati is no longer dominating as it used to be is the change in the regulations. The introduction of the minimum weight with ballast on the Panigale V4R has changed the balance for Bautista, who is struggling to find that feeling that had given him so much confidence to dominate the championship: “It is useless to deny that in this first part of the season we have struggled for various reasons, one of these is the regulation, which in my opinion is more favorable to others”.

But it’s not just ballast, as Zambenedetti explains: “Obviously, with the ballast issue, Alvaro no longer has the confidence in his riding that he had last season. But then there’s the fuel issue, which affects the engine’s power delivery, as well as the tyres: from this year Pirelli has decided not to bring the 800 anymore. So there are many factors that have influenced the result”.

Ducati has worked to address the technical innovations that have put the team in difficulty, with Alvaro Bautista in particular. However, the Ducati Technical Coordinator wants to get something off his chest and takes a swipe at his rivals: “I want to say one thing though: it’s easy to cry like some do and then attack and penalize others. But I prefer to react and work trying to fill the gap that exists now”.

“I don’t want the idea to get across that BMW wins just because it has concessions. I don’t think that’s right. If Toprak had been in BMW last year, it would have been nice to see if BMW had enjoyed super concessions this year. Instead, Alvaro and Ducati were penalized in this way. That said, I think two components aligned… On one side, Toprak’s talent, on the other, BMW’s work,” Zambenedetti clarifies.

In this situation, what will Ducati’s future be like? Will it have to do without Bautista or will it still be able to count on the reigning world champion? “I hope that Alvaro will continue with us and will be able to find a satisfactory agreement as well as the motivation to fight even in these more difficult conditions. We all believe in him and in his abilities”, explains the Ducati Technical Coordinator.

The Borgo Panigale company must prepare for every scenario, however, and one of the names most taken into consideration is Andrea Iannone in the event that Bautista decides to leave the project: “We are more than surprised by his performance, so much so that we take his results for granted. However, we must not forget the four-year stop and the fact that we will have to resume all the automatic processes after such a long time. I am convinced that Andrea will be able to play all the cards at his disposal. Obviously, it will not be easy to go to new tracks and immediately find the right path to follow. If Bautista were to stop, we are considering him for 2025”.