Filippo Preziosi ousted

The expected re-shuffling of Ducati's race team was announced just over a week after the end of the most expensive and disappointing period in the Italian firm's history, with an unexpected candidate being installed to head the effort heading into Audi's first full year in charge.

Former BMW Motorrad Motorsports Director Bernhard Gobmeier, a persistent critic of the costs of racing in MotoGP, was named the new general manager of Ducati Corse. Under Gobmeier, BMW's Superbike effort was considerably strengthened. Gobmeier hired former MotoGP rider Marco Melandri and his crew and gave them the resources needed to win. And Melandri did until he didn't. The Italian was leading the championship coming out of Russia, then failed to score points in five of the six final races, falling to third.

During an interview earlier this season with Italian magazine "Motosprint," Gobmeier said BMW wasn't interested in MotoGP under the current rules, but left the door open if the rules changed. He also said that Yamaha and Honda, though not Ducati, were "killing MotoGP," adding, "It's the truth. The Japanese have a vision of racing different from ours. All they can think of is reaching technological leadership. Their objective is to beat the rivals. If this sports war ruins the show, it doesn't matter."

Ducati's general manager Claudio Domenicali learned secondhand of Gobmeier's thoughts on the costs during a media gathering at Wrooom 2012, the Ducati team intro. Domenicali was told by an Austrian journalist that five years ago BMW believed they could enter MotoGP for 40 million euros, but that "Now they think they can do it with 20 million."

"Now they think they can make with 20 million?" Domenicali said, laughing. "Good luck. Germans are not famous to spend a limited amount of money." That could change.

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GIrish said:

On one hand you could admire Ducati's loyalty to the guy. On the other hand, Ducati fired Troy Bayliss, Loris Capirossi, and Marco Melandri for a lack of results due to Preziosi's shortcomings. Ducati is fairly ruthless when it comes to riders, by that standard Preziosi should've been demoted in maybe 2009.

At least they didn't fire him outright, I still think he's a very talented guy. Too bad Ducati wasn't able to convince Masao Furusawa to come on board.

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rm4two said:

Oh that would be great! A Japanese engineer working for an Italian manufacturer owned by a German company lol.

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GIrish said:

Worked for Ferrari, why not?

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rm4two said:

Oh that would be great! A Japanese engineer working for an Italian manufacturer owned by a German company lol.

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