MotoGP: ‘Dovi deserves the win’ says Ducati boss Ciabatti

With Andrea Dovizioso taking his maiden with Ducati after four seasons of trying in Sundays Malaysian Grand Prix, MCN caught up with Ducati Corse boss Paolo Ciabatti after the race to get his thoughts on exactly how much the win meant to the manufacturer.

“We came close a few times, but it always looked like in the end something went wrong for Dovi. But in Malaysia we had a perfect weekend – he was consistently fast, in the rain and in the dry, he made a very clever race with the perfect strategy, and he won because he deserved to win and not because people in front of him had problems.

“We all deserve it, but he deserves it more. I think it’ll give him extra self-confidence and motivation for the future, and that can only be good for the next years we will spend together. I’m happy he finally broke the spell, and I think he can go on to win many more.

“Winning twice this year was our target, and a bit of an inside joke. We promised our CEO Claudio Domenicali last year that we would win a race, and when we came close but didn’t make it we promised him that we had to win at least two this year, and it’s nice to be able to sit with a race win each for the riders.

“They both had races where they were super-competitive, and Dovi was unlucky in Argentina and Austria, and in Assen, he could have won but he made a mistake. There has been many races where we were in position to fight for a win and thing didn’t go right, and this is a nice reward for the team and for him and his dedication.

“In the three flyaway races, he was second, fourth and first, and the highest scoring rider of all three. We’re happy with that, and we go to Valencia now with smiles on our faces and with a lot of satisfaction.

“And to make it the perfect weekend, Chaz Davies has been incredible at Qatar. It’s very good for Ducati, because we put a lot of dedication in despite being a small group of people, and being able to win in both championships is good.

“These three races have a lot of stress and everyone is tired at the end, but it just takes away all the fatigue to come away with a win. I don’t want to sound childish, but it pays back all the effort and the sacrifices.”