Since when his rider career ended, Davide Tardozzi has always worked with Ducati, with the only exception represented by 2010 (when he collaborated with BMW). Tardozzi has been Ducati Team Manager since 2014 and despite the many offers he received, he has decided to stay with Ducati even without knowing anything about his salary: “It’s very hard for me to move, since Ducati means so much to me. Moreover, I’m a loyal person“.
LORENZO – 2018 saw Tardozzi managing two competitive riders like Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso, as well as the complicated relationship between them. Such situation became even more difficult as the races went by, due to the mistakes by Andrea Dovizioso and the injuries suffered by Jorge Lorenzo… However, Davide Tardozzi had a diplomatic say about it: “Everything was alright inside the team – said Tardozzi to Motorlunews reporter Manuel Pecino – so I believe we had no problem“. The two riders were treated the same way and the team learnt something also during the hardest times of the season: “We’re not frustrated, because we know what we’re capable of. If there’s an issue, we try to fix it for the session after… Such determination is what I found in Jorge Lorenzo. He could have given up after the trouble experienced during his first season with us, but he always had the strength to carry on and the performance he provided during the second half of 2018 was great…He taught me to never give up“.
DOVIZIOSO – After challenging Marc Márquez for 2017 title, Ducati had no chance to bother the Spaniard last year. However, Davide Tardozzi doesn’t consider it as a step backwards: “Compared to 2017, Dovizioso scored less wins and Lorenzo scored more. But he was second anyway, wasn’t he…? Dovizioso won less races than the year before because of the mistakes he made during the first part of the season. Those mistakes were crucial for the outcome of the campaign. I wish we hadn’t lost so many points in Argentina and the USA…“. Later on, what happened at Jerez and Le Mans definitely prevented Dovizioso from reaching Marc Márquez. However, Ducati Team never stopped dreaming: “We respect both Márquez and Honda, but we’ll never back down“.
PETRUCCI – 2019 brought Danilo Petrucci to Ducati Team, as the rider from Terni has moved from Pramac Racing to the factory team, but enjoyed factory treatment already in 2018: “You can’t imagine how easy it is, sometimes, to sign a rider who’s not going very well and take him to the first positions“. There’s already a good relationship between Dovizioso and Petrucci, but Ducati Team need to work hard to close the gap on Márquez. Davide Tardozzi is already on the front line…
Translated by Alessandro Palma