Michael Rinaldi on Ducati performance and Bautista advantage

MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship 2023

Round one – Phillip Island

Michael Ruben Rinaldi

Q: Were you satisfied with last weekend’s performance?

Rinaldi: “Generally not. Because after the test, after practice, I thought yesterday, second place, like today. But when it rains, I usually say ‘Ok, here’s another race’… I finish on the podium in Catalunya, sometimes the first time I train when it’s wet, but the feeling in yesterday’s rain was real. the very bad. I tried many things, changed all the settings with the electronics, but nothing felt with the bike. So yesterday after doing the race trying as hard as I could, I said ok, this is the first race, it sucks that I started the season this way, but I can’t control weather. We need to understand why I don’t have this feeling with the bike, for the next races in the water and in the rain.

“But I can’t do anything right now to improve my bike. Sure I was sad, sure I was angry, really angry, because I knew my potential was second place at Phillip Island, which was really good, because Alvaro was really strong. . So today is a good day for me, I can confirm the speed of the test, I have confirmed the speed that I feel on the bike. And that’s it. We also need to improve in different conditions, because championships are not always sunny. So I need to improve there and understand what’s not working.

Q: How were your tires in the second race?

Rinaldi: “I looked at the finish because at first I pushed a lot to stay with Alvaro, I tried to use not too much but when I got to the finish I saw we went too fast and knew from the test, that Alvaro is consuming less tires than I am. So he’s saving the tyres, I really don’t. I found myself creating distance with the riders behind, so I said ok, keeping this pace until the last lap was enough for me to finish second. So here’s my strategy, until lap 15-16 I’m 4.6 seconds from third place, for the last six laps I focus on control, because the bike is moving very fast. much and I said yes, we’ll be on Tuesday like this. And I don’t care if they catch me. It is good.”

Q: Four Ducati motorcycles in the top 5 Sunday’s main race…

Rinaldi: “I’m really pleased with the work Ducati is doing on MotoGP and Superbike, but I think Toprak, Lowes they’ve crashed, you take these two out and it’s not a true story. Sure, we found that with the tires, the Ducati wasn’t bad. The down side is that when there’s a lot of grip, we’re going to have a little bit of trouble, so everyone has their cards, and maybe this track will help us a little bit to work better with the tyres.”

Q: You mentioned weather performance, any indication of how you will fix that, next weekend is Indonesia. If Phillip Island can change, then Indonesia is on the next level when it comes to rain…

Rinaldi: “For sure I think we will have some practice in the rain in Indonesia, but it’s a different track, a different surface and I think there will be more grip and that will be a different story. I told my manager, buy me a superbike so I can train in wet conditions, so I’ll train more in the rain, but it’s different, because like me said earlier, it’s not me running slow in the rain but understanding why I felt so bad yesterday and trying not to walk that way anymore. Also for the settings of the bike we need to try to find out, maybe it’s the tire temperature, maybe it’s the setting, we need to check more closely. And when we understand, we’ll fix it.”

Q: How is your fitness?

Rinaldi: “Well, I talked to my coach, and he told me, we’ve improved a lot *prove how much*, but there’s still this *bigger gesture* to improve. This will be my best version. So I think for sure that in these moments, I’ve made a lot of sacrifices, no more parties, no more staying up late, I always go to bed at 10 o’clock. Anyway I go to bed, I wake up, this is my life now, so I sacrificed this and yesterday I was disappointed, I changed a lot of my teams, finished 14, 55s back, I said damn it… why. But this morning, I trained, I followed the plan and that’s it. Today is a good day for me.”

Q: What is the secret of this Ducati?

Rinaldi: “I know, this is because we are working the right way, working in a different way. You can’t complain to Ducati that we’re doing a better job than everyone else. This is superbike vs superbike, and we’re doing better, at Borgo Panigale, they’re doing better. It’s not that big of a difference you see because for sure, this is a special track and we’re going to Indonesia and it’s not so easy there. I think we’re doing a good job, like Kawasaki did six years ago, like Toprak did when he won the world, but it’s not fair to say it’s just the bike. Because you know yesterday there were three different bikes on the podium, today we showed that we are strong, but there are riders, not just bikes. So I think we’re strong, but we’re all fighting with the same weapon.”

Q: What is the main difference between you and Bautista?

Rinaldi: “I didn’t test his layout, but the difference isn’t huge. The only thing is that he goes fast, sometimes equal to me, but saves more tires. That gives him a bit of extra profit that if he needs to he has. Also in the race, when we did the lap times, they were the same, I was at 100% and he was at 95%, and he said ok’ this speed is fine for me, because no one at this speed and if you want to follow me you’ll eat all the tyres’. So I think I have to improve a bit, because he’s a world champion, he rides this bike very fast, and I’m not at his level yet, but I think time will tell. give me the confidence and knowledge to get there.”

World Superbike Championship Score