The Desmosedici GP is a prototype that has already broken most of the Bolognese manufacturer’s records and is sure to beat some of the most important of all time. Indeed, Jorge Martin’s victory at Buriram last weekend was the 14th for a machine from the Italian manufacturer this season, a figure that leaves it just shy of the all-time record of 15, set twice by Honda (1997 and 2003).
With Ducati having won the last six stages of the calendar and the next event taking place on a favorable track like Sepang, where it has won three of the last five GPs, everything seems ready for the Borgo Panigale manufacturer to make history again next week in Malaysia, where the two main protagonists of 2023 will compete again, separated by just 13 points in the general classification.
However, despite the relevance of all these feats, none of them would have the same impact as Martin’s victory. If he were to beat Pecco Bagnaia in their close duel, he would become the first rider from an independent team to win the title since Valentino Rossi, who did it in 2001 with Honda, with the Nastro Azzurro team, before moving to the factory team in 2002 .
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Luigi Dall’igna, Ducati’s top technical manager
Doubts about the possibility that Ducati will keep its word not to interfere with team orders to favor Bagnaia’s team had already arisen last season, when Enea Bastianini made life difficult for the Spaniard.
If on that occasion the bosses did not hinder the risk of “Beast” winning the World Championship with a prototype from the previous year, it makes even less sense for them to do so now that the two contenders are on equal technical terms, given that both have the more advanced specifications than the Rossa.
“Pramac is an official team with a different sponsor”, insists Paolo Ciabatti, sporting director of Ducati, who makes his technicians available and completes Paolo Campinoti’s training. As true as Ciabatti’s statement is, no one doubts that the reference team is the red one, the one with Bagnaia and Bastianini. It is the one that leads the project and has the sponsors who invest the most. And it is also the one with Dall’Igna, the figure who, with his arrival (2014), re-established the brand’s objectives in the championship.
Together with his team, the engineer is the inventor of the Desmosedici GP, the motorcycle that overturned the status quo historically dominated by the Japanese. A bike capable of motivating Marc Marquez to renounce the last year of his contract with Honda, and with it more than 15 million euros, without even the possibility of riding the most advanced version, the one on which Martin and Bagnaia will ride.
For Dall’Igna, who in addition to holding the role of technical manager also holds that of general director of the racing department, the only thing that matters is that the glory goes to one of his “creatures”, as long as it is the current model. But that is not all. According to Motorsport.com, there is a faction within the company itself that believes that, given the choice, Dall’Igna would prefer it to be the one wearing the Pramac colors that wins the title. “If Pecco wins again, he will have most of the attention. If Jorge wins, the attention will be divided between him and the bike. This is Gigi’s philosophy to the nth degree,” he told this writer Ducati insider.
![Francesco Bagnaia celebrates the last podium achieved together with his team](https://cdn-3.motorsport.com/images/mgl/0JBaLAN0/s1000/francesco-bagnaia-ducati-team-1.jpg)
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Francesco Bagnaia celebrates the last podium achieved together with his team
The Racing Department is trying to convince the most incredulous, those who still don’t fully believe that Prima Pramac Racing is truly free from any constraints. And the reasoning is based on the nature of the relationship between the contenders: both Bagnaia and Martin have the same type of contract, the same privileges and the same responsibilities, even if, obviously, the 2022 title meant a good injection of extra income for the reigning champion.
This feeling of being able to fight head on is what the satellite team itself feels when asked to quantify Martin’s possibilities, based on the tools at his disposal. “We are missing absolutely nothing, Ducati is doing its part. From this point of view we can’t complain about anything, because the treatment we have received is excellent”, the satellite team’s team manager Gino Borsoi told Motorsport.com .
The Italian, who has a long career in the paddock behind him, first as a driver and then as a manager, applauds an approach that he considers unique: “No other brand would allow one of its satellite teams to beat the official team”.
![Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing, receives compliments from Ducati sporting director, Paolo Ciabatti](https://cdn-6.motorsport.com/images/mgl/0mbrEQX2/s1000/jorge-martin-pramac-racing-1.jpg)
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing, receives compliments from Ducati sporting director, Paolo Ciabatti
#Jorge #Martins #title #sublimate #DallIgnas #work #MotoGP