Jorge Lorenzo quizzed on what he could do with a current Ducati
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The three-time champion was brought in on a big-money deal but his two years with the Italian manufacturer did not deliver the desired results.Instead, Lorenzo joined Valentino Rossi and Andrea Dovizioso as part of Ducati’s dark 15-year winless period between Casey Stoner’s title in 2007 and Francesco Bagnaia’s in 2022.But Lorenzo could be forgiven for looking on enviously at today’s Desmosedici, unquestionably the superior bike on the grid.How would he perform on a modern Ducati?“Well, in 2018 it was clear when Ducati gave me the parts I needed to feel comfortable and, more or less, I had already gotten the hang of riding,” he told AS. “It was a less complete Ducati than the one now. “It was not yet the best motorcycle, but it was the fastest. “I managed to win three races out of five or six. “On top of that without Marc Marquez on the track, because in 2020 he was injured, it would have been simpler to win the championship. “But I also don’t want to assume things that we will never know. “I am left with the fact that I demonstrated, once again, that with tenacity and perseverance I could go fast on any motorcycle. “It was not the case with the Honda because I was injured in Assen, but I think that, if it had not been like that, I would have also achieved it with them. Related Ranking the most controversial MotoGP feuds of all time Jorge Lorenzo notices eye-opening way Marc Marquez made Honda’s job harder“But it is continuing to assume things that we will never know.”Lorenzo had won his three MotoGP titles with Yamaha in the seven years before joining Ducati.He finished seventh in 2017 and ninth in 2018, before ending his career with one poor year at Honda.All the while, the Desmosedici project was slowly progressing until Bagnaia was able to take advantage of Ducati’s years of development.In 2024 Ducati will again have eight bikes on the grid, double the quantity of Aprilia, KTM and Honda.Lorenzo said: “For me it was what had to happen because Gigi Dall’Igna has always been an engineer who has always achieved what he sets out to do. “He achieved it when he was working at Aprilia, in 125cc, in 250cc and when he moved to Superbikes with the brand. “He always managed to make the best motorcycle. “I needed new stimuli, working with new people and a different motorcycle. “I chose to switch to Ducati because I knew that, sooner or later, Gigi was going to get the best bike. “Unfortunately, he achieved it too late. “I would have loved to have won the Mugello race (in 2018) a week or month earlier because it would have changed my past a lot. “But hey, in the end, Dall’Igna has managed to become world champion.”
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