IT'S RACE WEEK!!!! Round 1 - PT Thai Grand Prix

PRS717 said:

I might be on an island here but I think Pecco is up for it. I think he may be mentally tougher than he’s given credit for being. Whether or not he can equal Marc’s mental toughness may be another question but I think Pecco is up for a fight this year. He has shown he is not afraid to engage with Marc on track, however wisely or unwisely.

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Pecco certainly has his strengths, and a degree of experiential edge with the Ducati that will make him competitive. While it is true that he is a few years younger than Marc, and has suffered very little in the way of injuries, Marc possesses a fierce sense of self-confidence, and while he may have on occasion over reached, he has never at any moment that I can recall, exhibited any mental weakness. One of the things I think that works against. Pecco this year, is that Alex is now on an equal machine, and the two brothers while on different teams, are so simpatico and supportive of each other that it is almost as if they were their own team. For sure that will not sit well with Pecco. Alex makes a great wingman, and seems perfectly OK with having Marc at the top of the podium. That is a hard combo to beat.

PRS717 said:

I might be on an island here but I think Pecco is up for it. I think he may be mentally tougher than he’s given credit for being. Whether or not he can equal Marc’s mental toughness may be another question but I think Pecco is up for a fight this year. He has shown he is not afraid to engage with Marc on track, however wisely or unwisely.

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I think he is up for it. My comment on him needing to get the 'he's playing with us' out of his mind is that can take a real mental toll on any athlete if they think, or know that an opponent is toying with them.
As I said, with the early tracks likely favouring MM, he can set himself up to force Pecco to take risks in an attempt to claw points back.

I also think Pecco is absolutely up for the challenge. However, he's obviously not happy. My guess is he didn't expect Marc to be better than him this early, especially that much better. And most importantly, he probably didn't want having to push any harder than he's used to, which means probably more DNFs (as mentioned above), and more stress as well. I think as long as Pecco keeps closing the gap, he should gain his confidence back IMO. We'll see if that's the case soon enough, and by how much. We can make another round of predictions after that. Ha ha.