OFFICIAL PROGRAMME
EXCITING CONTENT
“ Sincerely , I don ’ t feel pressure from being Italian . I just feel more support because there are many competitors , still many , many people that text me a lot in the social media . Also Sunday was one of my worst career races . I opened my private messages and there were many messages that said , it doesn ’ t matter . It ’ s the first race . We trust you . You have the support from the Ducati team . In the past , I didn ’ t have this support . So I ’ m really proud and happy to have this . For sure , you are in a team with factory support , in these colours , you need to be professional always .” The spirit of the ambitious racer speaks through when we said to Rinaldi that the expectations from the team and all will be much higher this year . Especially after a tough start in Motorland in round one . Meaning himself , he said , “ You … have higher expectations . This is why I said in the race in Aragon I wasn ’ t happy at all . They said that you need a lot of passion for what you are doing and it ’ s true because any reasonable people will give up if it wasn ’ t for the passion . So I really am passionate and love what I ’ m doing .
After this I was really angry and I go immediately to my hotel room and analyse why . But it ’ s the same Michael that won last year with no factory team , with better support . So if I have done it in the past with less support and less potential , I can do many more times with more support . So , you need also to understand why that happened . Learn and go for it . I ’ m not a worse rider . I ’ ve done it with less . I can do it with more . Rinaldi , like Michael van der Mark is a product of the WorldSBK paddock , but does this bring any pressure in an era with more and more riders arriving from MotoGP™ classes directly ? He answered , “ I never saw this in this way , but it ’ s true what you said . They come from a different paddock . I was born in this paddock . I need to raise the WorldSBK flag up !” Michael ’ s next chance to see if he can hoist that flag highest of all will come at this very round , his local racetrack , Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli .
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