Ducati’s current MotoGP supremacy and the range of riders that are able to be fast on its bike are “ridiculous” and “frustrating”, according to Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro.
The 24-bike 2022 MotoGP grid features five current-spec Ducati Desmosedici GP22s and three year-old GP21s. They’ve accounted for 14 of 18 poles and 11 of 18 wins so far this season.
Ducati won the constructors’ title at Aragon with a phenomenal five races to spare, and is in prime position to make it a MotoGP triple crown with teams’ and riders’ titles.
It took a major step towards that triple crown in the Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island, as while Suzuki’s Alex Rins and Honda’s Marc Marquez kept it out of the top two, Ducati’s lead rider Francesco Bagnaia in third was followed by five fellow Desmosedicis.
The only Ducati riders absent from the top eight were Jack Miller, who was well on course to finish there before being wiped out by Alex Marquez, and Fabio Di Giannantonio – with the Italian rookie struggling for pace for much of the season but still having managed to grab his maiden pole at Mugello in May.
Espargaro, who finished the Phillip Island race in ninth, said after the grand prix that suggestions earlier in the season that his Aprilia RS-GP was the best MotoGP bike over the Ducati were wide of the mark.
“It’s funny because not too far ago, three-four months ago, everyone was saying that Aprilia was a new Ferrari, and I knew the bike that I have – I know it’s a good bike, I know that we improved the bike a lot, but it’s not at the level of the best bike of the grid at all,” he said.
“It has never been like this. But they made many mistakes at the beginning of the year.
“Today the result of the Ducatis is… I don’t want to use the word, but it’s ridiculous.
“You see all the riders – doesn’t matter who rides this bike, they’re on top, top six. It’s frustrating.”
HOW MUCH HELP DID BAGNAIA GET?
A third-place finish has lifted Bagnaia to 14 points clear of Fabio Quartararo, 27 clear of Espargaro and 42 clear ahead of final remaining title hopeful Enea Bastianini (Gresini Ducati).
Bagnaia finished as the lead Ducati rider, having had two of his Ducati stablemates run close behind him at various points in the race.
Ducati publicly maintains it is operating under a ‘no team orders, but minimal risk in battle’ policy, although there have been suggestions that its riders have been instructed to give Bagnaia priority if not fighting for the win.
But works team-mate Miller “threw it up the inside” of Bagnaia twice at Turn 10 early on – with Bagnaia successfully countering both moves – and would’ve presumably attempted to get past again later on if he had the opportunity and didn’t get wiped out by Marquez.
Bagnaia’s fellow Valentino Rossi protege Marco Bezzecchi was the other Ducati rider to shadow Bagnaia in the Australian GP, and many wondered whether he was deliberately holding off on a move.
“He was one of the fastest riders from FP1, I think he could’ve done even better but maybe he didn’t want to overtake Pecco, to not take too much risk, because I think that he could do something more,” Bezzecchi’s VR46 team-mate Luca Marini said after the race.
Bezzecchi himself both corroborated and refuted that viewpoint, acknowledging that he would not have taken a big risk but also insisting that he was “not fast enough” to overtake Bagnaia, was “already pushing a lot to stay close” and ultimately ended the race with “destroyed” tyres.
“I tried to overtake but the only point where I could overtake safely was corner one – and in last corner I lost too much,” said Bezzecchi.
“He was very fast, I couldn’t take the slipstream – also his [GP22] bike is a bit faster than my [GP21] bike.
“To try and overtake in [the hairpin-like right-hander] corner 10 would’ve been stupid, for him and also for me. Because it was a fantastic race, and I didn’t want to end it in the gravel or outside the top five.”
