Ducati are very close to taking the MotoGP World Championship crown, with Francesco Bagnaia two points adrift of the riders’ title. On the Yamaha side Cal Crutchlow (WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team) said after the Malaysian GP that the pressure in Valencia would be on the Italian rider as he is the one who can lose, but the Borgo Panigale outfit have another opinion.
In an interview with GPOne.com, Ducati sporting director Paolo Ciabatti stated that at the moment there is more concentration than tension, recalling a similar scenario the team had experienced… but in opposite positions:
– We lived with more tension in the recovery phase because not everything was obvious. Now there is the right concentration to complete the work. Fabio will be obliged to win the race, but Pecco will have to do worse than 14th for him to win the title. We experienced a similar situation, but with roles reversed, in 2017, when in Valencia [Andrea] Dovizioso had to wait for an unfortunate race from [Marc] Marquez.
The official believes that, although the pressure remains, it is more on Quartararo who is obliged to win: ‘The pressure is there, as it should be, but I think it is more on the shoulders of Fabio, who knows that a second place wouldn’t ‘t be enough’.