Xerox Ducati's Michel Fabrizio has sensationally admitted he finds riding the 1198 very difficult with electronic rider aids switched off, adding that their absence caused him to crash at Qatar.

During yesterday's first race, the Italian had a problem with the bike's anti-spin system and was forced to switch it off. He promptly crashed and then completed a bad weekend by pulling out of the second leg.

“Its a day to forget, we must move on. In race one I had a technical problem with the anti-spin so I deactivated it but riding without that electronic support was hard and caused me to fall," he said.

"In the second race I decided to come into the box after eight laps to change the rear tyre that had caused me problems from the first lap. The tyre was changed and I went back out but the gap that had opened up prevented me from fighting for points and so I concluded my race early.”