Dovizioso and Hayden unmoved by Gobmeier exit

Factory Desmosedici duo Andrea Dovizioso and Nicky Hayden weren’t shedding a tear for departed Ducati MotoGP boss Bernhard Gobmeier when quizzed about the German’s exit in Malaysia today.

The former BMW World Superbike boss will be replaced by Aprilia chief Gig Dall’Igna, having been relieved of his duty after less than a year in charge of Ducati’s struggling MotoGP project.

Ducati seems to have drifted even further behind Honda and Yamaha in Gobmeier’s short tenure and in a Ducati statement on the management reshuffle issued yesterday, it read: “Bernhard Gobmeier, who has been the General Manager of Ducati Corse for the past ten months, will return to Germany to pursue the opportunity of a prestigious and strategic position within the Motorsport organisation of the Volkswagen Group.

“In his new position, the 54-year-old Engineer from Bavaria will continue his upward professional curve within the VW Group.”

Dovizioso and Hayden have both bemoaned the lack of progress made in improving the Desmosedici package in 2013, with a chronic and long-standing understeer still the biggest issue.

Italian Dovizioso and 2006 MotoGP world champion Hayden have only scored two six finishes each this season and when MCN asked both for their reaction to Gobmeier’s departure, both were indifferent to the news.

Hayden said: “I wasn’t shocked with that news. Things weren’t really improving, so I think they probably made a good decision. Gigi has a great resume, so I would say it is the right decision.”

Dovizioso paused for a moment when MCN asked him for his thoughts, the former 125GP world champion taking care with his response.

He said: “It is very difficult to make an answer about that. There is a long story and many things have happened until now. I am happy about the change because we need a big change.

“Like in every situation many things happen but the people outside of our world can’t know and it is like this. I am happy about the situation and I will push 100% to get the results.”