Ducati MotoGP boss Davide Tardozzi believes Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia are “on the same level” as Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner.
Martin and Bagnaia are fighting for the MotoGP championship for the second successive season and are currently separated by just 17 points in the riders’ standings.
Due to the previous campaigns of Ducati dominance, and its rivals subsequently falling behind in development, there have been questions raised about whether the two riders match up to some of the greats in the sport.
Modern MotoGP as a package has also come into question, with comparisons being drawn to the ‘alien era’ of Rossi, Stoner and Jorge Lorenzo.
However, Ducati’s MotoGP team manager Tardozzi believes that both Martin and Bagnaia are “undervalued” by fans and, along with Marc Marquez, they are the current era’s equivalent to Stoner, Rossi and Lorenzo.
“Total respect for the riders mentioned, but on the other hand I think Jorge and Pecco are undervalued from the people,” Tardozzi said via Crash.net.
“The riders mentioned: Valentino, Jorge and Casey are incredible champions from another era.
“In this era, there are new champions and the new champions are Marc Marquez, Pecco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin.
“I think that those riders, in this era, are on the same level. I think those riders are incredibly fast and are managing these kinds of bikes in the proper way.
“So I think that they are champions like the past.”
Davide Tardozzi: Enea Bastianini ‘free to race’ in battle for third
Tardozzi has also confirmed that Enea Bastianini hasn’t been given any team orders by Ducati, expressing that both he and Bagnaia are “fighting for his own championship.”
Bastianini told the media ahead of the Malaysian Grand Prix that he would be allowed to fight Bagnaia as he looks to seal third in the riders’ standings.
“No, we haven’t spoken with Enea,” Tardozzi explained, “Enea is fighting with Marc for the third position.
“So, so far each one of them is fighting for his own championship, his own position in the championship.
“Even third is much better than fourth obviously. So, in this moment there are no team orders, no discussion about this battle.”
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