Ducati appear in state of confusion, says Marco Simoncelli

Marco Simoncelli reckons Valentino Rossi and Ducati are in a state of confusion about how to transform the struggling Desmosedici into a consistent podium threat.

Rossi has endured a miserable debut season with Ducati and for the first time in his career he faces the prospect of completing a season without a single victory.

A vague front-end feeling and understeer issue has left Rossi floundering way off the pace in 2011 and he’s scored just one podium in 15 races.

Ducati has rolled out three major re-designs of its Desmosedici this season without making any significant progress in bridging the huge gap to Honda and Yamaha.

And Rossi’s close pal Simoncelli, who tested Honda’s 1000cc RC213V at the Twin Ring Motegi earlier this week after renewing his HRC contract, told MCN: “Looking from the outside it seems now they are in confusion. They have a lot of things to test and there is no time and they are in a bit of confusion. But the situation in racing can change quickly.

“I remember at the beginning of 2010 the Honda was not very good in the first test but everybody worked a lot and by the end the season our bike improved a lot. This year we made another good step and now the Honda is the best bike. It is not a good situation when they have a lot of problems and I hope that they succeed to solve them quickly because it would be beautiful to battle with him for a podium or a victory.”