Marco Bezzecchi was marked out as a possible title contender coming into 2024, having completed third within the standings final 12 months with three wins on his year-old Ducati.
However adapting to the 2023-spec Ducati that gained the championship final 12 months has thus far confirmed tough for the Italian, who certified 15th on the Qatar Grand Prix and will solely end 14th within the race.
Bezzecchi’s struggles centre on missing feeling on the entrance finish, a difficulty which thwarted manufacturing facility counterpart Enea Bastianini when he stepped onto the GP23 final 12 months.
Unable to cost into the corners as he would really like and get the bike to show, Bezzecchi present in Qatar that he was burning up his rear tyre making an attempt to get the rear of the GP23 to return spherical utilizing the throttle.
“We had taken a step ahead within the warm-up, and I used to be completely satisfied as a result of I lastly felt fairly good on the bike,” Bezzecchi stated of his Qatar GP.
“However then, as quickly as I began the race, my entrance finish locked up quite a bit and I nonetheless can’t clarify why.
“At that second I started to lose sensations when braking and getting into the nook, so I started to open the throttle earlier as a result of I used to be lacking one thing by way of entry velocity.
“That led me to expire of rear tyre very quickly. I attempted to handle the scenario, however with 11 laps to go I had already switched to [engine] map C, which is the one with the least energy, and there was nonetheless half a race left.
“It has been a really tough weekend for me. We discovered some attention-grabbing issues, however we now have additionally seen that it is rather tough to proper a grand prix that begins within the mistaken approach.
“In Portimao, we hope to discover a higher base from Friday to do higher on Saturday and Sunday.”
Marco Bezzecchi, VR46 Racing Workforce
Picture by: Media VR46
He added: “I don’t have feeling with the entrance tyre when braking, the bike doesn’t flip and that’s why I lose velocity on the strategy [to the corners] and I open the throttle too late.
“Or I am going into corners too slowly, exactly as a result of the bike doesn’t flip, so I open the throttle too early and this fashion I run out of tyres.
“I’m struggling, however I’m working exhausting so I’ll get there. It’s a irritating scenario, but additionally motivating.”
The opposite three GP23 runners in Qatar didn’t encounter the identical struggles at Bezzecchi, with VR46 team-mate Fabio Di Giannantonio seventh in Qatar, Alex Marquez sixth and his Gresini team-mate Marc Marquez fourth.
As such, Bezzecchi says specializing in utilizing their information will probably be extra essential than wanting on the manufacturing facility riders’.
“Clearly I take a look at the quickest riders, however the Marquez brothers and my team-mate have the identical bike as me and so they have managed to be quicker, each in time assault and tempo,” he stated.
“So, I wish to deal with them and examine the info to know what I’m lacking and why I can’t do what they do proper now.”
