Marco Kamper caught up with Mattia Guadagnini to talk about a tough day in Germany but also about the Italian getting to ride such an iconic Italian brand as Ducati make their MXGP debut this season after much anticipation. Guadagnini also talks about the tracks in MXGP and why some are so hard to pass on.
GateDrop: Mattia, so today we’re in Teutschenthal, Germany. I think it’s fair to say the racing didn’t go exactly your way, I don’t think you’re happy about it?
Guadagnini: Yeah, I mean, I think in this kind of track we are all really close with the lap times. Starting from time practice, there are so many good guys that can do a fast lap. Some that you don’t see in the race anymore but they can put the lap together. It’s so difficult to be in front at the time practice at the moment. For me especially, I mean, the first few races of the season I was there, but now I’m missing a bit of feeling after the injury and that’s like maybe one second but it could be top ten or twenty-five.
It’s crazy that the gap is so short but that makes a huge difference for the gate starting from the qualifying race and with a bad gate position, it’s not easy to make a good start and then, yeah, on a track like this where it’s almost impossible to pass, it’s a big problem. I mean, also yesterday in the qualifying race I was riding good but just couldn’t make the pass and I started really bad I think around twenty-seven and I made a couple of passes but I finished like twenty-one or twenty-two. That’s terrible. But really, I was not feeling bad. I was just not able to pass and it happened exactly the same in the first moto.
I had a bad start. I mean, the start was good but from the outside they pushed me out in the first corner and then I was around twenty-six or something again and I made a couple of passes. I was feeling quite good but still I lost so much time behind some guys and I had just finished eighteen.
So that’s like the result is really bad but it’s almost impossible to make something better in this situation. And second moto where finally there was more gap, more difference for the track. I had a bad start but then I could save some positions in the first corner but then I crashed second corner!
I was completely last, but actually I was enjoying it. I was riding good, had some good lines and made so many passes. I was thirteenth and then the bike stopped. So yeah, I think we don’t have luck by our side and also like by not being 100 percent at the moment is not like two or three positions, it’s fifteen positions. That’s what the biggest problem is, because I know we are able to make so much better results than this, me and the team also. But yeah, it’s just such a short gap and at the moment it’s like this but I need some time to get better back in front.
GateDrop: So you were talking about the track as well, for years like Teutschenthal known to be hard to pass. They made some changes to the track. When I walked the track like Friday I was sort of hoping that it would change. You know, maybe make it more easy to pass. It doesn’t seem like that. What do you think is needed for this track to make it more passable?
Guadagnini: I don’t know, maybe change the track so it’s entirely different. I like the track. I mean it’s one of the nicest for the championship. Like old style, up and down, some jumps but we’re just not able to pass. I don’t know, I just don’t know what can be a good change for the track. I mean they tried something. I also thought it was better but it turned out exactly the same. So I mean we have so many lines but the fast line is just one line.
GateDrop: Febvre talked about there not being big berms on the outside which makes the outside not possible.
Guadagnini: I mean that can be an idea of course because when you have like five ruts in one corner but just one is good. I mean I was behind some slow riders, I was catching them, change the line to pass and lose one second. Because the line is not good and then you fight again, close the gap and then the same. There was like one, two places where you actually could make the pass but you come from maybe a corner where one is one line so you cannot be close enough. And I mean, I saw also the other races and it was almost the same for everybody, so I don’t know. I really don’t know what they can make on the track but we have a few tracks like this.
I mean I was watching US National yesterday evening and it’s a lot different there. I don’t know actually if it’s the track preparation or what. Tracks are a lot so much wider and so much more space but they can also change the line. Here we have so many ruts but just one is good.
GateDrop: I’ve got like a suggestion because I don’t know what happened but it seems like the last couple of years they’re more than one line tracks. But when you look at and I don’t know if this is an option but when you look at like early 2000s they wouldn’t rip the track?
Guadagnini: I don’t know because actually then the track is fast and you don’t have lines so it doesn’t make sense but they were making more passes in the past. So, I really don’t know, maybe it can be an option but for sure they were.
We will complain about something else! I think we’re making some good steps also with the safety because it’s not probably the nicest idea to put 40 riders going wide open around the track with dust and a hardback like hell. But I don’t know, I mean at the moment it’s not the best solution but I’m also struggling to find a better one.
We are all complaining about something but it’s not easy to find a better solution sometimes.
GateDrop: Your bike, it’s a Ducati like that’s highly exotic! I’d just like to know like what was it like to first get on that bike and did you already make a lot of changes to the bike?
Guadagnini: Yeah, I mean it was a good sensation the first time I was on the bike already but then we made a lot of work in the winter time. We made a lot of changes from the bike that they were using last year. So yeah, actually the bike turned out really well I think.
I’m feeling really good with the bike at the moment and we are quite happy. We are still always trying to make something better but at the moment it’s a good solution I think. We are both quite happy, me and Jeremy, so we were trying to work together to put some more information possible to make the bike better first. And then compete between each other, because it didn’t make sense to (compete) during the winter and the first time first part of the season because we needed first to put the bike together.
GateDrop: So, style-wise, the Ducati is more like a KTM style bike or Japanese?
Guadagnini: So many people like ask me this question, but it’s a totally different bike in so many ways, so you cannot compare to any other bike. I haven’t rode that many bikes also, so I don’t know, but it’s different, engine-wise.
It’s good, I like a lot like the rideability of the bike, that was what first impressed about the cornering and everything. But we were missing a bit of engine in the start of the season and now we have a new one, so that’s better. We were just riding with a standard one until France! It looks like we’re putting the bike together and it’s getting better and better. I mean not looking at the results, but the feeling is good.
GateDrop: Last question, this weekend is Latvia, a sand track. I mean you can pass there, I mean years have shown that. You’re happy to go to the sand?
Guadagnini: Yeah, I mean, because it’s something different to what we had in the last few races I’m so happy. I’m just looking forward to having a start and then trying to make the difference. I mean it should be better for sure than this weekend so it should be good.
