Francesco Bagnaia says his Ducati MotoGP race machine “was already perfect” but the runner-up was treated to a host of new goodies during the test run.
It seems there are interesting developments ahead of the 2020 Moto GP season. The exhaust is just the tip of the iceberg for the 2022 Ducati, Motorsport.com reported that the new fairing kit hides a new engine. The Long Muffler Outback appears to be longer than the previous muffler setup. Manufacturers tend to lengthen mufflers to get more torque out of the engine
Bagnaia continued that “the old bike was already perfect and we are improving that perfect bike.”
The statement was made after Bagnaia topped the times in Friday’s tests at Jerez with a time of 1:36.872. This time he is significantly faster than his Spanish GP qualifying round. It’s also worth noting that the bike was running on medium compound tyres, so it will be interesting to see how well the Ducati will perform on the track with a different set of tires or wheel to wheel with other racers.
Bagnaia described the new setup as follows: “The thing is incredible. The lap times we drove and the pace we drive with the medium and used tires are unbelievable.” It’s surprising
“It means that Ducati has done a really great job because it’s not easy to improve on a bike that was already fantastic.”
“We’ll have a lot more things to try for next year, but there will be something to try in Sepang.”
It looks like Ducati is making a good slew of improvements to its race bike. It will be interesting to see how well the new setup performs in the 2022 MotoGP season. Should Ducati use its racing bike, other manufacturers may have to be careful and maybe even react.