Ducati Corse: Building a Winning Juggernaut

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Yet more history was made for Ducati over the past weekend as Alvaro Bautista wrapped up the 2022 WorldSBK title at the Mandalika Circuit in Indonesia. The Spaniard eventually came out on top after a spellbinding year fighting week in, week out with Yamaha's 2021 World Champion, Toprak Razgatlioglu, and Kawasaki's six-time King, Jonathan Rea.

But it's the success for Ducati that has Ducati Corse General Manager Gigi Dall'Igna grinning from ear to ear. After a 15-year wait ended in Valencia, Ducati's 11-year wait for a WorldSBK crown came to an end in Indonesia. It means the Bologna brand have won both top level titles in the same year for the first time, making them the third in history after Honda in 1989, 1997 & 2002 and Yamaha in 2009 & 2021.

Gigi Dall'Igna

It absolutely must be said that Gigi Dall'Igna deserves a huge amount of credit as the architect of their success. The word 'mastermind' comes to mind.

Desperate for someone to rescue them after the failed Valentino Rossi experiment, Ducati lured Dall'Igna away for from Aprilia, where he had engineered a couple of Superbike World Championships with Max Biaggi. Ducati was really was at an emotional low. They had given a nine-time World Champion the best MotoGP bike they could build, and he could barely drag it onto the podium. And things weren't going much better in World Superbike. Dominant in the production racing series for years, Ducati hadn't won a title there since 2011. Under Dall'Igna, things got better. A LOT better.Dall'Igna immediately started working to build a foundation for the team. Instead of crushing year-old bikes, Ducati started handing them to satellite teams. Perhaps having learned fijm the attempt to pin all its hopes on a
superstar rider, Dall'Igna also started improving the quality of the equipment that the satellite teams had, and started to improve the rider quality of those teams. Zarco and Martinez anyone?

Dall'Igna correctly reasoned that the more riders and teams on Ducatis, the more data the team would have on what worked. Data was shared. New riders, like Bagnaia, got time to learn on a satellite team, without the pressure of the factory squad but with factory machinery. Ducati now has eight bikes on the grid, and Zarco is the unofficial in-race tester for new components. He knew the value of of data gathered on race weekend by eight very fast riders on your constantly updated equipment. And Dall'Igna looked at the rule book carefully to determine what it said he could do - and what it didn't say he couldn't do. The Desmosedici sprouted wings, ducts, scoops, fins. Make no mistake as to how important this stuff is — at Valencia, Jorge Martin was asked what had caused the recent uptick in his results. "The fairing - 100 percent," he said without hesitation.

Ban on electronic "shape-shifting" devices? Gigi stroked that gray beard and thought, is there another way to do that other than electronics? Hence the hydraulic systems tacross the modern Desmosedici. The culmination of all of Dall'lgna's effort is the GP22, perhaps the most effective MotoGP machine ever. It holds lap records. It took more poles, more wins, than any other manufacturer in 2022.

By the Numbers

So, for the first time, the Bologna factory has clinched the MotoGP™ and WorldSBK titles in the same year. That's domination. But let's take a closer look at just how dominant Ducati Corse has been in 2022 just in MotoGP.

Here is Ducati Corse's record breaking MotoGP season by the numbers:

With seven wins, ten podiums and five pole positions, Bagnaia secured his first World Title in the Premier Class in the last Grand Prix of the 2022 season.
Bagnaia becomes the first Italian rider to win on an Italian bike, the Desmosedici GP, the Riders' World Title in MotoGP.
The title win came thanks to a historic comeback: Bagnaia's maximum gap to the leader was 91 points after the tenth race at the Sachsenring (Germany), which he then closed over eight Grands Prix.
Bagnaia was also the first Ducati rider to score four consecutive wins.
The Borgo Panigale manufacturer scored a total of 32 podiums with 6 different riders (10 Bagnaia, 7 Miller, 6 Bastianini, 4 Zarco, 4 Martin, 1 Bezzecchi), including 12 victories (7 Bagnaia, 4 Bastianini, 1 Miller).
In the last 26 races, a Ducati always finished on the podium.
Ducati took 16 pole positions this season with 7 different riders, a record for the Borgo Panigale manufacturer. This year Ducati also equalled the record for pole positions in a single season previously held only by Honda.
In the last 40 races held, Ducati has consistently placed at least one Desmosedici GP on the front row of the grid.
On six occasions this year, Ducati did a front-row lockout by placing all Desmosedici GPs in the first three positions of the starting grid.
In Austin (Americas GP) and Mugello (Italian GP), the top 5 positions on the grid were all occupied by Ducati machines.
For the third consecutive year and the fourth in its MotoGP history, Ducati won the Constructors' World Championship in the premier class.
For the second consecutive year and the third in its history in MotoGP, The Ducati Lenovo Team won the Teams' World Title.
For the second consecutive year, the factory-supported Ducati team Pramac Racing has been awarded the 2022 best independent team in MotoGP.
Marco Bezzecchi, rider of the VR46 Racing Team, has been awarded as the 2022 best rookie rider in MotoGP.
Enea Bastianini has been awarded as best rider among the independent teams, the Gresini Racing Team. With six podiums and four wins under his belt, the Rimini-based rider ended the MotoGP World Championship in third place overall.

Amazing. I follow MotoGP really closely, but even I didn't know half of that.

Check out our new Ducati inventory

Or reserve the bike Bautista will compete next year on - the 2023 Panigale V4R

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