Those who abandon the old road for the new one know what they leave behind and don't know what they will find. I wonder if Gigi Dall'Igna fell back on conventional wisdom when he decided to set aside the new GP25 to rely on the GP24 for the next two years.
Last year's Desmosedici was a near-perfect bike, and the engineers noticed this when they tried to improve it. They did not succeed, and both Bagnaia and Marquez preferred the old model.
This was admitted by the Rossa's team manager Davide Tardozzi, interviewed by motogp.com after testing in Thailand.
"The decision has been made and we will use the 2024 engine for the next two seasons.
I think it's very difficult to improve the GP24, we tried, but in the end we didn't find what we thought and Gigi didn't want to take any risks," he admitted, "It will be a big effort for our guys at home to prepare the engines for the three riders for the first race, but if Gigi made this decision we will have them."
There has been a lot of talk these days about the 2024 engine, but the bike that Pecco and Marc will use will basically be a GP24 for the other important parts as well.
"There is a real possibility that we will also start with the 2024 chassis and aerodynamics, we could postpone to Jerez testing the new material we had - explained Tardozzi - What will be different on the GP25? Some electronics and suspension details."
Ducati seems to have already reached the maximum from the current regulations, while its rivals may have more room to get closer.
"I'm happy because it looks that the rules work, and giving cocnessions to the brands that have difficulties like Yamaha or Honda works, I think that Dorna did a good decision," Davide commented, talking about the opponents.
"We saw that Quartararo is growing and Acosta is there and I'm very happy for Bezzecchi because he did a very good job today."
That said, Marquez and Bagnaia remain the favorites.
"I'm absolutely confident our riders will be really competitive every race and for the championship but, as I said all winter, I know our opponents and they are good," Tardozzi declared, "They are very strong, they have good riders and good engineers, many of them from Ducati.
I think we are not to undervalue them and there will be some races we will not win and we have to collect points, because the championship is more important than winning every race."
