MotoGP: Redding and Petrucci show off new Pramac Ducati

The Pramac Ducati duo of Scott Redding and Danilo Petrucci have pulled the covers off their new 2017 liveries in a launch in Naples’ imposing Castel dell’Ovo, showing off a largely-unchanged livery on the Ducati GP16 and GP17 machines they’ll respectively campaign this season.

After a 2016 season that was at times difficult for both the team’s riders, team boss Francesco Guidotti says that there’s work to do for the squad.

“It will be a very important season for our team and for our riders. The relationship we have with Ducati is year by year more and more narrow and in 2017 will materialize with the presence of the Ducati Desmosedici GP 2017 in Danilo Petrucci’s side. A fascinating challenge for Petrux which will have the task of trying to stay with the riders in front.

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“A challenging responsibility also for Scott Redding who will have the Ducati Desmosedici GP 2016, a bike that has proven to be extremely powerful, giving a lot of satisfaction last season. We face a tough job but we are ready to deal with it and determined in carrying out our mission that is to hold high the colours of Octo Pramac Racing.

And with the covers off the bike that he’ll ride in 2017, Redding also laid out a very clear goal for the season – to improve on his results from last season after a sometimes0difficult season for him on his debut year on the Ducati.

“It is clear that the hope for the 2017 season is to improve our results. I must confess that the beginning was not the easiest. In the first two tests we tried to work to resolve some technical issues that could have created problems later. It was a different job from last year when we focused on setting the lap-time.

“Our goal is to be able to do well from the first few races and I am very confident because the Ducati Desmosedici GP 2016 has been shown to have a good pace and reduce tire wear consumption compared to 2015 version. I think this season we can do well and improve ourselves especially during the Sunday’s race.”

Starting his third season on the other side of the garage, Danilo Petrucci echoed both teammate and team boss, admitting that it’s time for him to prove his worth and reward the chances that both team and manufacturer have given him.

“First of all, I would like to thank all those who have allowed me to be back with Pramac for the third year in a row. If I’m not mistaken I am the rider who has raced the most consecutive seasons with the team, and this fills me with pride. I’m glad to be here also because this is an important year: I was rewarded with the official Ducati and I have to do well. I want to improve the results of 2015 and finish the races in which I was leading during the 2016 season.

“The bike is a step forward compared to that of 2015. We’ll see if it will be enough to stay with the competition that this year is an even higher level. We are still working to discover all the potential, but one thing is certain: the 2017 version of the Ducati Desmosedici GP is the most competitive bike I’ve ever ridden.”

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