Bastianini, Bagnaia and Ducati want to surprise Mugello

The Italians Enea Bastianini and Francesco “Pecco” Bagnaia, on the tracks of Ducati Desmosedici, want to surprise Mugelloscene of the Italian Grand Prix and a place where the manufacturer’s prototypes from Borgo Panigale have always stood out for their speed.

Aside from the success of Frenchman Fabio Quartararo in 2021 on the Yamaha YZR M 1, Ducati riders prevailed in the 2017, 2018 and 2019 editions.since 2020 and as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the race has not been held on the Tuscany track.

This data already makes Ducati riders a favorite, which will have the widest representation of the starting line-up with up to nine bikes, who is also registered as a “guest driver”, the factory tester, Michelle Pirro.

However, the main focus of attention is Italian Enea Bastianini, the rider who has accumulated the most successes this season (three), who will be looking for a new success that will solidify his path to the leadership of the standings. , but all to get a place on the official Ducati team.

Enea Bastianini is currently the clearest candidate for thisalthough this is disputed with Spaniard Jorge Martín, as it seems clearer that Australian Jack Miller will not occupy that position next year.

Bastianini and Bagnaia, in addition to their “factory” rivals, could find fierce opposition from current MotoGP world champion and championship leader, Fabio Quartararo, who won last year.

Among his “factory” rivals, the Frenchman Johann Zarco should be consideredalways among the fastest in the category, but so is Spaniard Jorge Martín, who plays for his place on the official team, where Jack Miller doesn’t seem to have much choice to continue, though he will certainly try to prove the opposite with good performance.

But this time Quartararo will have the unique opportunity to gauge the true situation of his Yamaha against a Ducati that has always been very strong on the Tuscan circuit. It can also be a unique moment to see how strong Aleix Espargaró’s Aprilia RS-GP is or to what degree Marc Márquez and Pol Espargaró’s Repsol Honda are.

Aleix Espargaró came in with just four points behind Quartararo and the Mugello track is one of the Noale manufacturer’s test areas, suggesting that Italian engineers have a lot of information that could allow the Granollers track to be truly competitive from the first training sessions.

In the case of Marc Márquez and Pol Espargaró, the situation is very different because the Tuscan track is not one of the most favorable for their Repsol Honda RC 213 V under normal conditions, because now they are not due to the countless technical problems they experience with the prototype manufacturer Golden Wing.

Márquez, who has renewed his contract for several seasons, is not in the same situation as Pol Espargaró, who will have to prove his worth as soon as possible if he wants to keep his position on the Repsol Honda team, which is now seems very high in the air.

Despite Suzuki’s decision to withdraw from racing at the end of the season, its prototypes and drivers, Alex Rins and Joan Mir, have excelled at almost every grand prix.although eventually two mishaps left them without scoring in France, where they were among the best in the category until they dropped out and that was reason enough for them to be included in the list of contenders in Mugello.

As for the KTM riders, both South African Brad Binder and Portuguese Miguel Oliveira provide a lime and a sand and although both stomped on the podium, the first as second and the second win over Indonesia; in the rest of the World Cup participations they reflect many ups and downs.

That’s certainly not what Mattighoffen’s engineers expected at the start of the season, so both Binder and Oliveira have a lot of homework to do.

Maverick Viñales is another of the riders who must take a step forwardbecause after his departure from Yamaha much was expected of him on his arrival in Aprilia, but he had not yet shown his true potential and all this when both in his case and in Aleix Espargaró they were in the process of arranging for the renewal of their respective contracts.