‘Exceptional’ Valentino Rossi boosts Ducati

Ducati MotoGP designer Filippo Preziosi reckons Valentino Rossi’s arrival has galvanised the Bologna factory as he hailed the ‘exceptional’ Italian star earlier today.

In a press conference that lasted for close to 55 minutes at the Madonna di Campiglio ski resort in Italy, Preziosi and Ducati boss Claudio Domenicali spoke about Rossi’s influence on igniting a new wave of enthusiasm and optimism inside the smallest factory in MotoGP.

The 31-year-old made his GP11 debut last November when a shoulder injury proved a major hindrance and left him only 15th on the timesheets.

But speaking about the impact of Rossi’s arrival and his expected influence of development of this year’s Ducati contender, Preziosi said:  “Some things I was expecting such as his capacity and skills in analysing in detail the bike.

“And in describing precisely the behaviour of the bike, this is an absolute value. As we also said in the past, a bike is a truly complex vehicle and its dynamics are difficult to understand, study and simulate.

“It is also difficult to measure and assess with so many sensors. So the rider and the man is an element that can give us an amount of information that we can’t have otherwise.

“To have a rider that can understand the details of the bike is something that I was expecting because speaking to the technicians who had worked with him in the past they had all told me how good he was.

“But I have to say he went beyond what I was expecting. But what really impressed me the most is his capacity of generating a positive environment around him. This is something that I was not expecting.

“I was expecting a rider who has won nine world championships, seven of which came in the highest class, I thought his stance could be different against the people around him.

“But in reality he is always extremely positive minded. If you were to see the electricity and enthusiasm that we have now in Ducati, the power he has ignited, he has given a major contribution to this.”