Ducati has steadily increased its presence in MotoGP since it first landed in the world championship in 2003, with Loris Capirossi and Troy Bayliss. By 2006, it had expanded its presence to four bikes, with D’Antin Pramac as the customer team. He secured a fifth bike in 2009, which went to Sete Gibernau and the Francisco Hernando group. In 2011, the signing of Valentino Rossi raised the number to six: the two official bikes, the two from Pramac, one from Aspar and one from Cardion AB. This grew further to eight in 2016, with Pramac as a satellite facility, and Aspar and Avintia as customers.
The formula used for the distribution was quite simple. Depending on the company’s budget and production capacity, the teams that invested the most and had the closest ties received the most advanced prototypes. Those who invested less had to be satisfied with the bikes of one or even two previous seasons.
In 2018, Ducati took a step forward and offered Danilo Petrucci, then a Pramac rider, a Desmosedici identical to those of Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso, at the time official color bearers. She maintained this mechanism also for 2019, despite losing two bikes and returning to field six. That year, the Bolognese brand also took on the contracts of Jack Miller and rookie Francesco Bagnaia, then the Australian’s teammate in the Pramac team.
Six Ducati riders remained on the grid in 2020, but the number of officers has increased to four, with Dovizioso, Petrucci, Miller and Bagnaia. Ducati general manager Gigi Dall’Igna also hired Johann Zarco, finding him a job in Avintia, with the parent company supporting part of the cost of the Frenchman’s salary and bike – a 2019-spec Desmosedici.
In 2021 Bagnaia, Miller, Zarco and Jorge Martin all had the latest Desmosedici and direct contracts with Bologna. Enea Bastianini also benefited from this latter aspect, but had to settle for a 2019 Avintia bike that he improved over the year. Luca Marini, on the other hand, with a 2020 prototype, raced under contract with VR46.
From 2018 to 2021, Ducati went from earning two million euros for each prototype of the previous year (one million if the unit was two years old) to taking on the cost of the bikes and the contracts of almost all the riders racing with its material. This maneuver also served to rebalance a financial budget that had swelled.
Jack Miller leads a train of Ducati riders during the 2021 Valencia MotoGP
Photo by: Dorna
In 2017 and 2018 the salaries of Lorenzo and Dovizioso alone reached 20 million euros. This year, between Miller, Bagnaia, Zarco, Martin and Bastianini, there are about three million, plus another three that have been paid in bonuses linked to results. The money now does not go to the riders, but is injected into the bikes and their development.
This new policy imposed by the Borgo Panigale house has begun to bear fruit, and despite not having won the championship in 2021, the Desmosedici has become – according to the majority of the paddock – the most balanced vehicle on the grid. With seven victories, it is the bike that has accumulated the most successes last year, even ahead of Yamaha, which won the riders’ championship with Fabio Quartararo.
“I think the Ducati 2022 will be a dominant bike,” said Miller at the end of the Jerez tests in mid-November, after taking two wins last year, at Jerez and Le Mans. “With the GP21 the problems of the GP20 have been solved. At the end of this season we have been able to dominate. The steps forward have been made with clear improvements.”
The 2021 runner-up Bagnaia, winner of four grands prix at Aragon, Misano, Algarve and Valencia, went further: “The GP21 was already perfect and we are improving it. This means that Ducati has done a great job, because optimizing a bike that was already fantastic isn’t easy. “
Here lies the big difference. In the past there were already eight Ducatis in MotoGP. But they were neither dominant motorcycles, nor above all factory motorcycles. Politics at the time were more business-oriented, but not global interest. In 2022 there will be five ‘full factory’ bikes (Bagnaia, Miller, Martin, Zarco and Marini), in addition to the three in 2021 (Bastianini, Fabio Di Giannantonio and Marco Bezzecchi).
“The Ducati is the most competitive bike in the championship, and we are all in agreement on this,” admits Aleix Espargaro, who is still waiting for Aprilia to grow with a second pair of RS-GPs, which for the moment will not happen. “All the riders are very fast on the Ducati. From a romantic point of view, I would like every manufacturer to have four bikes. That was Dorna’s idea, but for one reason or another it didn’t happen and Ducati kept that market share “.
The likes of Aprilia and Suzuki are totally outnumbered, with only two bikes each
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Who needs to be most concerned about the growth of the Italian brand is Quartararo, who will have to defend his crown against an all-powerful army. “After the summer break, Ducati made a big step forward,” said the Frenchman after the last race. “They gained a lot of confidence. In Valencia, a circuit that was not in theory favorable to them, they got pole and a hat-trick. I’m worried about next year, but it’s up to Yamaha to know what to do. “
2020 world champion Joan Mir believes that eight bikes are a lot to fight against, especially given the enormous potential of Ducati: “This is only good for Ducati, honestly I think it’s too many. If someone is playing for a title with Ducati and has eight bikes to play with, it’s outrageous. There is always a Ducati ahead and this shows the potential they have. “
Pol Espargaro is of the same opinion, and analyzes the situation from his point of view: “It’s very negative. I’m not talking about the championship, but about me, my interests. The Ducatis are working very well, and if they are able to evolve. as well as they did this year, it will be bad for us. Throughout the year there have been many Ducatis fighting for the win, and next year there are two more. “
Iker Lecuona is more pragmatic, in a position certainly influenced by the fact that he will not have to face the legion of Borgo Panigale in 2022, given that he will move to the Superbike World Championship with Honda: “The only certain thing is that if Ducati has eight bikes on the grid it’s because they are the only ones who wanted or could do it. Suzuki and Aprilia only have two, so if they had wanted those seats, they would have had them. If those eight Ducatis affect the championship, it is because the others have allowed them to do so. “
Honda boss Alberto Puig expressed himself on the same line in a recent interview with Motorsport.com: “You don’t have to anticipate, you have to see who wins and how much you win. Ducati has a bike that everyone says is fantastic, but it doesn’t win a world since Stoner, and that was a long time ago. Fourteen years, to be exact … “.
Will having eight Ducatis on the 2022 grid be a key advantage that many expect in MotoGP?
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
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