What did Ducati find at the Catalunya test?

Forget mind coaches, if there was aꦆ single turning point for Andrea Dovi🍌zioso and Ducati's season it probably came during the private test at Catalunya, between the French and Italian MotoGPs.

Exactly what was tried ("something dif♑ferent") remains a mystery, but there were rumours of new chassis parts.

Since the end of the seaso🍸n Ducati Corse general manager Gigi Dall’Igna, team manager Davi✤de Tardozzi and test rider Michele Pirro have all made reference to the test as a key moment.

Dall’Igna: "We fought back from a tough situation [early in the season] an🦩d from the test in Barcelona we improved the performance of our bike quite a lot, on the technica🔜l side."

Tardozzi: "We found something after the Bar�𒆙�celona test. We understood that we had something that can be good and it was confirmed at the Mugello and Catalunya [races]."

Pirro: "After the Barcelona test we𒅌 found some solutions that gave [Dovi] much more confidence. This was an important step and when he managed to win at Mugello, I think his season changed."

Following the Barcelona test, Dovizioso took the first back-to-back race wins of his grand prix career, at Mugello and Cataluny♏a. It was a feat made all the more impressive since Mugello marked the debut of the stiffer Michelin front tyre, a change Ducati had strongly objected to.

What if Rossi wasn't injured - twice?

Given the problems experienced by Movistar Yamaha at low grip and wet events such as Jerez, Catalunya, Motegi, Sepang and Valencia this season, Valentino Rossi doesn’t think his broken leg prior to Misano 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:made much difference to his cha🐎mpionship position.

But Rossi alsoꦅ suffered a training injury before his previous home round at🧜 Mugello (fourth in the race), which was followed just one week later by the Catalunya Grand Prix.

Rossi'﷽s later heroics on his early return from the leg injury at Aragon are well known (third in qualifying, fourth in the race) but what could he have done without the training injuries.

The Italian would surely have scored more points and, while it might not have be🤡en enough to overcome the bike issues🐼 for a title fight, might Rossi have finished the season as the top Yamaha rider?

Team-mate Maverick Vinales was third in the world champꦫionship, two places and 22 points ahead♋ of Rossi…

Would Lorenzo have let Dovizioso by?

Despite all the debate over Ducati's ꩵ(attempted) use of team orders via the '𓄧suggested mapping' messages at the last two rounds, at no time did Jorge Lorenzo actually let Andrea Dovizioso by.

In Malaysia it was a mistake by Lorenzo that allowed Dovizioso through, while at Valencia Lorenzo remained just in front of the titl𝐆e contender until falling.

Lorenzo said he didn't see the dashboard message in Sepang but 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:was p🃏raised by Ducati management after the race, presumably for not trying to re-pass.

And if Lorenzo'sꦆ stated plan had worked in Valencia - meaning he had caught the lead g🐷roup, towing Dovizioso with him - would Lorenzo then have pulled aside, with his first Ducati victory within reach?

By the Valencia test, Lorenzo ꧂was growing tired of the questioning over his✨ decision to override team instructions in the season finale:

"I don't understand why there is still th💜is polemic. For some people it looks like everything I do is bad.

"I'ꦍm quiet because I think I made the right decision. The people who just watch the race on Sunday don’t understand the pace of all the riders on the grid, during all weekend. The ones w🐈ho are experts know Dovi's pace and what happened in the race.

"I repeat, maybe in some corners or in some moments of the race I could slow Dovi down a little bit. But in general terms - over 30 laps - I'm still convinced that [Dovi following] my wheel helped him to be more competitiv🥂e. As he has said.

"After he said that, I think nobody should keep talking about it. Becaꦏuse if Dovi says I helped him to be more comfortable and faster, I think the matter is finished."

The only time a Ducati rider allowed Dovizioso to pass this season, following a team message, was Scott Redding at Phillip Island. The Englishman later got a frosty 🦹reception fo🎶r re-passing the struggling Italian.

What happened to Vinales?

Fastest in every winter test and winner of three of the opening five races, Maverick Vinales was the runaway early title favourite. But he didn't win ano🌃ther race and dropped out of mathematical championship contention with two rounds remaining.

Yamaha's 2017 bike problems in the wet and low grip are well known, but tea💞m-mate Valentino Rossi later managed a win at Assen and the real mystery was why Vinales wasn't able to repeat his earlier dominant form even oඣn high-grip circuits.

Maybe it was the change in front tyre construction? After all, Vinales didn't win after the switch to the stiffer design from Mugello. Or did the constant supply of revised chassis designs෴ from Yamaha end up causing confusion?

Perhaps the biggest problem for Vinales and Yamaha after Le Mans - at circuits with gr♊ip - was simply that they couldn't match the pace of improvements by their main rivals.

Rossi found more confidence with the new front tyre, while progress by🎉 Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso (at the Barcelona test) and Honda's Marc Marquez (at the Brno test) saw them dominate the second half of the seꦫason.

Beyond Le Mans, Vinales twice finished runner-up twice (Mugelꦓlo, Silverstone) and third on a further two occasions (Brno, Ph🥃illip Island).

What if Iannone didn't fall in Qatar?

Andrea Iannone qualified second on the grid (admittedly courtesy of free practice times) for 𓂃his Suzuki debut in Qatar, and was running a close third when he crashed out at mid-race distance.

As well the chance of a podium, Iannone was 𓄧on course to comforꦯtably beat the sixth-place predecessor Maverick Vinales had achieved the previous season.

How 🍷much difference might it have made to Suzuki's season if he had stayed on?

With the team later h♋inting that motivation was a factor in Iannone's results, might a debut rostrum on the GSX-RR have given the boost he needed to push through the difficulties that followed?

Instead, Suzuki spent much of the season floundering, 🎶the team's best result being a fourth place by rookie team-mate Alex Rins in the Valencia finale. Another big question is what Rins might have achieved withou🎃t his Texas injury.

Either way, if had Iannone had claimed a podium🧸 in Qatar, Suzuki would not be regaining technical concessions for 2018꧙…

That's just a start. Leave your unanswered questions in the comments section below...