What do you think of Gibernau Joining Ducati?

[zunkus]

Sete Gibernau joins the Ducati MotoGP Team

The Ducati MotoGP Team has reached agreement with Sete Gibernau to contest the 2006 MotoGP World Championship. The Spanish rider will join Loris Capirossi, who renewed his contract with the squad before September's Japanese GP.

I personally think that the guy is talented but there's something about the guy that I don't like. He seems artificial with all the number 74 kissing and pointing to the skys. He did it all for sympathy. It may have been geniun at first but then he used the thing to draw attention if you ask me

[Stig]

I think he would have had a better chance at the title where he was. We shall see though.

[Peter Henry]

Zunkus..Is this news only just filtering through to Malta? :) The deal with Ducati was done within 24 hours of Sete not getting the confirmation that he wanted from HRC that his RCV would be on a par with those of the main HRC Repsol team. He has already covered a lot of test laps and was within 0.3sec of Loris. Not bad when he was learning a whole different package to what he was used to.

So he is a phoney? Hmmm well he just walked away from what is still seen as the dream ticket...RCV plus Michelin tyres, so he isn't exactly going the easy route is he?

My feeling is the change to Ducati will be good for him and we will see possibly two very good seasons from sete before he retires. Dont forget last year he ws still very quick, he just sadly forgot how to actually win those races he was leading.

Dont expect Rossi to go walking of with the title mid way through in 2006!!(And I dont mean the only threat are Ducati!) :wink:

[chutz]

I hope he does better this season. Not becasue i like Sete particularly, coz i don't, but I do like the Ducati team and want to see them do well. Anyone that gives Rossi a challenge I wish them well. :lol:

[SVeeedy Gonzales]

The deal with Ducati was done within 24 hours of Sete not getting the confirmation that he wanted from HRC that his RCV would be on a par with those of the main HRC Repsol team.

That's the same problem Biaggi always had - "my bike is poo - it's not as good as the other bike!" 2004 Sete had a great bike and was a real contender, 2005 he had "the best bike on the track" and where was he then? Just like Biaggi whining about the Yamaha and switching to Honda because it was so much better than that nasty Yamaha... just in time for Rossi to whup him with the Yamaha :roll:

Once a rider can accept that it's down to them as much as the bike they'll be in with a better chance of winning. Rossi made a good point in his biography about how his Honda was only ever one test part (that may or may not have been better) ahead of the others, yet everyone thought it was some super-duper GP bike that was better than all the others.

The only way the Ducati will improve things for Sete is by giving him a fresh start. It won't stop him trying to push too hard and losing concentration (and making dumb mistakes) like he did in a lot of the races last season. It's a different engine, different handling, different team... I doubt he'll be achieving much this year. Would have been nice to see what he could have achieved if he'd never gone over to the main team in 2005... as it is he might surprise us once or twice this year, and more so in 2007 onwards. Especially once Rossi has left :wink:

[chutz]

The only way the Ducati will improve things for Sete is by giving him a fresh start. It won't stop him trying to push too hard and losing concentration (and making dumb mistakes) like he did in a lot of the races last season. It's a different engine, different handling, different team... I doubt he'll be achieving much this year. Would have been nice to see what he could have achieved if he'd never gone over to the main team in 2005...

you have the wrong guy here I think. Gibernau was in the moviestar team as uaual last year. It was Biaggi who moved to the main "repsol" team and failed.

[Scooby Drew]

I think that if the Mullet can sort his head out (get a haircut, ignore Rossi's 'Jibba Jabba') it will help him keep his butt in the seat and enable him to be a real contender again as he was in 2004. Gibbers gave Rossi a free ticket to the title when he allowed what happened on the last corner of the first race do his head in.

The duke started to come right towards the end of last season with some good results from Capirex so it looks like development is going in the right direction at last in the Ducati camp. I'm not a fan of Gibbers but it would be good to see more competition.

[SVeeedy Gonzales]

you have the wrong guy here I think. Gibernau was in the moviestar team as uaual last year. It was Biaggi who moved to the main "repsol" team and failed.

He was with Moviestar in 2005 but he was also on a deal with Honda where he got all the latest greatest toys and support because he'd been doing so well in 2004 the theory was that more toys would equal better performance - effectively he was no different to a factory rider last year in terms of the bike and parts he had access to.
On paper, Sete had a better bike in 2005 than he did in 2004 (got the parts as soon as the official team did, no waiting, which is a complaint of most non-factory riders). In the real world this 'better bike' seems to have been the cause of some of his problems.

[TLMark]

Don't think sete is gonna be to much for Rossi to worry about the dukes have never been on the pace at every race on odd ones.
Marco on the other hand?

Fav sete pic
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y15/tlmark/1615223fn.jpg

[Peter Henry]

Sorry to disagree here but there is no way a satellite Honda team has to date ever had the exact same equipment available to them as the main factory team,it just does not work that way guys. The only way Honda would give 100% commitment equal to that of it's own contracted riders is if their own 2 riders were not in contention but the satellite rider had a good chance of achieveing it real late in the season.

Yes Honda have valued Sete's development input but not enough to give him like for like machinery. Yeah he screwed up big time on occasion last year but was he not the only one to actually have big problems with the bike? The supposed running out of gas when leading a race? Sorry dont buy that...it was a mechanical or engine management crash but Honda did not want the real story released. Then Valencia when he was hot in practice and contesting strongly for the lead and the motor blows? Did anyone else suffer that? So yeah he had a few justified gripes.

Ducati was not competitive on certain tracks but the problem was Bridgestone and not the GP05. The tyre company made big improvements late in the season and Loris made that tell. For anyone to dismiss Sete Gibernau and Ducati for the coming season as a big threat I think is foolish. No he isnt going to win the championship but I fully expect him to be battling at the front. He is still probably the fastest rider out there and certainly in the top 5 for talent. 8)

You might think I defend Sete beyond what is due, I feel that the information available in Spain is far more thorough than what most of you guys might have access to, and so I can at times give a different angle on things. 8)

[SVeeedy Gonzales]

I thought the running out of gas thing was ultimately proved to be down to a Honda component? Some sort of measuring valve that compared what was in the tank with how much race was left to run, to make sure that a racer who was too eager on the throttle didn't run out of fuel.
Only on Sete's bike it malfunctioned and measured that his bike was almost out of fuel so it cut his throttle right down, despite him having enaough fuel left - I can't recall how much was left in the tank but it was more than a litre.
That could just be pit rumours though... the fact that Honda were desperate to cover it up and won't talk about it doesn't put them in a good light.

Yeah, it wasn't all down to Sete - the bike seemed to have it's fair share of problems. Coupled with Rossi pushing him, he folded mentally, and this year he's got a new bike but if he doesn't sort out his mental baggage regarding Rossi, he'll still be making big mistakes on those bends.

[zunkus]

Zunkus..Is this news only just filtering through to Malta? :) The deal with Ducati was done within 24 hours of Sete not getting the confirmation that he wanted from HRC... :wink:

No I know, the thing is I was watching the news yesterday and saw Gibi foolin around in the snow with his new mate Capirossi (who I admire very much) so I remembered of the deal.

I agree that watching Rossi having it easy is not all that great. I would have liked him to move to Ducati to say the truth instead of Gibi.
Its true that Gibi made a huge risk (ala Rossi did moving to Yamaha) with him moving to Ducati. But lets not forget that in the last races Ducati gt it going and is really moving. Its nice to see Ducati up front. They make V-twins you see :)

Listen I don't totally hate the guy, I believe in respecting even enemies, he's good and keeps with Rossi which is super in my book.

[chutz]

If Sete had the top "works" bike exactly like the Repsol he would not have left. Also Repsol have the contract for the works bikes and top parts and would object most strongly if this was breached by Honda giving exactly the same to satellite teams. They gave the Moviestar teams virtually "works" bikes with a few bits coming fractionally later I reckon. Look at Edwards when he rode for them, he was the only Honda on the old chassis and had the most out of date bike.

SVeedy, sorry , I obviously misunderstood you coz you said "team" rather than "bike". :wink: