Mixed Fortunes For Ducati At Home
- Jun 1, 2015
- 3 min read
The 2015 Italian Grand Prix was one of Ducati's most eagerly anticipated races in the team's MotoGP history. They had tested at Mugello prior to the French Grand Prix and found time from the bike which saw them run well at Le Mans. With three GP15's on the grid this weekend, as well as two Satellite GP14.1 & 2, and two open GP14's, big results were expected. Unfortunately the team encountered mixed success.
The man most expected to win, Andrea Dovizioso, failed to make it to the end of his home race thanks to a rear sprocket failure 14 laps in. He had been locked in the titanic scrap for 2nd with the Honda of Marc Marquez, team-mate Andrea Iannone and Yamaha's Valentino Rossi before retiring.
“Today went wrong right from the start with my mistake in this morning's warm-up (He crashed on his out-lap and missed the session). I got a good start in the race and I was in amongst the frontrunners but I had to retire because my GP15 had a problem with excessive wear of the rear sprocket. It was a real pity, because I reckon I could have fought for the podium, and seeing as we were at Mugello, I was really banking on doing so. But above all I didn't score any points for the championship, which for me is the most important thing.”
Andrea's troubles see him 35 points behind championship leader Valentino Rossi in 3rd place.
Andrea Iannone, despite discovering a hair-line fracture in his shoulder following the French Grand Prix, gritted his teeth to take a fine 2nd place at home after a late charge from Valentino Rossi. This caps off a good weekend for the Italian after claiming pole position the day before for the first time in his premier class career.
Iannone did have a scare at the start when it appeared he had jumped the start. But, as race director Mike Webb explained post-race, Andrea just got very, very lucky.
“We had one genuine jump start today from (Karel) Abraham. He was clearly out of his box and kept moving. The other controversy was Iannone, who I've got to say was the luckiest rider I've ever seen. He went at exactly the time the red light went out. He can't have judged that. It was his own dumb luck. As he decided to go the red light went out.”
Pramac Racing Ducati's Danilo Petrucci finished a very respectable 9th, but it wasn't without woe. The Italian crashed into the Suzuki of Aleix Espargaro at turn one on lap three, sending the Spaniard into retirement.
Petrucci later exclaimed that the reason for the accident was a result of a gearbox issue.
“I am very sorry for the contact with Aleix but unfortunately I had a problem with the gearbox that made me lengthen braking and being unable to avoid contact. I understand he is very angry, that's why I apologised. But telemetry confirms the problem I had. It was a very hard race for me, especially due to the very high temperature that made me sweat a lot from the beginning."
Danilo enjoyed a tussle with team-mate Yonny Hernandez in the closing stages of the race, with Hernandez having to give second-best in 10th. Factory Ducati wild-card Michele Pirro was just ahead in 8th.
Both Avintia Duacti's of Hector Barbera and Mike Di Meglio were 13th and 16th respectively.
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