A sports project, when it is in its early stages, is always very fascinating. But it presents natural technical or managerial teething problems that can slow down or put in difficulty those who try to make it grow. For this reason, 10 months after the launch, Motorsport.com contacted Paolo Ciabatti, head of the new Off-Road program of Ducati, to take stock of the situation on the new creature of Borgo Panigale.
The adage ‘Well begun is half done’ often finds confirmation in various areas of life. It may still be too early to attribute it to this new program, but Ducati – also strong in its successes in MotoGP, World Superbike, Supersport and other categories on the track – has faced this new challenge with the right resources and, above all, with the right men to be a protagonist from the very beginning and not just a participant.
Paolo, the off-road project is in its tenth month of existence in motorsport. The question is simple and direct: how is it going?
“The project actually started in 2021, when the project was approved internally, which included the creation of a range of 450 and 250 off-road bikes. Then, in reality, the 450 took to the track for the first tests in June 2023. In November 2023, Cairoli and Lupino made the first contact and 9-10 months later we are satisfied with how the project has evolved. It is clear that we have decided to use the Italian championship competitions as a further test bench for the bike to define the characteristics and specifications of the Desmo450 MX that will be produced from April 2025”.
How much has the bike changed since its debut in Mantua to today?
“The bike in its basic elements, which are essentially the frame and engine, has changed little. Some refinements have been made, but I have to tell you that in the Italian championship we raced and will race in the last round that will be held between 12 and 13 October in Arco di Trento with essentially a standard configuration apart from the suspension. The bike, therefore, does not have a racing engine. It has an engine that prefigures the characteristics of what will be put into production. We use standard fuel, we are using an exhaust that already complies with the 2025 noise regulations, so considering all this and that Lupino is leading the Italian championship, we are satisfied”.
Alessandro Lupino, Desmo450 MX
Photo by: Motorsport.com
At this point the appetite comes with eating: being first at this point of the season is a great boost for the sporting part, but also for the product that will arrive in 2025…
“Certainly when we decided to participate in the Italian championship I won’t hide from you that the goal was to do well straight away. Then being a completely new project, there being very strong riders in the Italian championship… let’s remember that in the last outings Bonaccorsi, who is an official Yamaha rider in the World Championship, Jan Pancar who came fifth, Isak Gifting have raced. In short, there have been riders capable of staying in the Top 10 in MXGP, so it has become an even more demanding test bench. And having managed to get the results we have up to now, with the satisfaction of having seen Tony Cairoli go on track and compete in the race in very difficult conditions with Lupino, we can say that it was what we hoped for, because we knew we had done a good basic job, but then comparing ourselves with the other manufacturers is a test bench that gives you the level of goodness of the project in this phase”.
A few weeks ago you made your debut in MXGP with Cairoli. Beyond the results, are you satisfied with what you saw? Obviously regarding the bike and the sensations that Tony had…
“Yes, we are satisfied. Among other things, together with Tony we chose to debut on one of the most difficult tracks in the World Championship, because Arnhem is one of the sandy tracks that are found between Holland and Belgium and it is one of the most complicated test benches compared to those we find in Italy in the Italian Championship. For this reason, with Tony we decided to do a series of tests on that type of track and then debut the bike with Antonio who, despite his 39 years, has shown that he is still one of the fastest riders and I think he should also be given credit for wanting to put himself on the line. With 9 world titles he has nothing to prove, but he wanted to give him and us this gift of seeing him return to the track by choosing together with us, but above all him, the most difficult conditions to debut”.
Tony Cairoli, Ducati Desmo450 MX
Photo by: Ducati Corse
“In any case, in the Qualifying Race on Saturday he finished seventh at the finish line and best of the Italians. Then on Sunday things went less well because he didn’t start well and in those conditions it’s difficult to recover. While in the second race he was fighting for eighth and ninth place but we had a small technical problem and we weren’t able to reach the finish line. However, we can say that he was one of the best Italians in the race at that time and we are satisfied overall, always considering that, apart from the suspension, we raced with the standard engine, with exhausts that respect the 2025 limits. So without going looking for extra performance even if the regulations would have allowed us to”.
After taking note of the data and results from Arnhem, have you understood how far you are from being able to be competitive in the 2025 MXGP season?
“We definitely lack experience. The bike has proven to be valid and competitive. We will have to work, which we have planned in these months, on the racing version of the engine that we have not yet started testing because, as I said, the 2024 sporting activity was focused on preparing the production bike that all enthusiasts will be able to see and buy from May-June of next year”.
When will the development program of the Desmo450 MX racing version begin?
“Having already chosen both drivers for 2025, one has been announced and one will be announced later because he is busy with another team and they don’t want his name revealed, we will start in November, especially on the suspension which is the thing that takes the longest and is the most important to do in terms of timing. Then towards the end of the year, we should have the racing factory versions of the engines that we can start taking to the track with the drivers.”
Desmo450 MX
Photo by: Ducati Corse
You mentioned Seewer, who you have already announced. He needs no introduction, having a very respectable sporting pedigree. Can you tell us how you convinced him to embrace your project? Of course, Ducati is involved and it is prestigious, but the project starts from a blank sheet of paper in every sense…
“I have to tell you that, as you said, Ducati’s image in recent years and today is the image that does things seriously, with the adequate resources to be able to make a good impression and the results in MotoGP and Superbike prove it. They have demonstrated it in recent years and they still do it today. The whole company has this image and the off-road project also has it, which was seen in the motocross world as a competitive project. The results that we obtained with Lupino in the first races have shown that the basic project is good. The fact that Tony Cairoli decided to join us on this project has given further credibility, even if this is a term that I don’t like, because I really believe that Ducati doesn’t need credibility. He has given further endorsement to the whole project and it is clear that the riders know each other. Surely those we contacted also spoke with Tony to get his opinion on Ducati’s commitment to the project and on the first impressions related to the bike and it was not difficult to reach an agreement with Jeremy (Seewer) and not even with the other rider. It is clear that some potentially interesting riders were already committed to the manufacturers with which they have multi-year contracts. We are convinced that Seewer was the best choice also considering his pedigree. He finished 2 times second in MX2, 2 times second in MXGP, last year third and this year he is fourth. We think we have a rider who can aim high knowing that in the first year we will try to make few mistakes but there could be situations in which we will not be 100%”.
You’ve already spoken about Cairoli in detail. Alessandro Lupino is playing for the Italian title at the first attempt with the Desmo450 MX that is practically street-legal… And what are they giving you in terms of bike development?
“Cairoli needs no introduction. He is the second most successful rider in the history of MXGP, he has won 9 world titles, he has a lot of experience and he is still very fast. Alessandro is truly an analytical rider. He has ridden many bikes of different brands and he is still very fast. So both of them have helped us to push the bike to the limit and as you know, although a manufacturer has testers for development, to understand the real problems of a project these bikes need to be ridden by riders capable of being in the Top 10 of the World Championship. Otherwise these potential critical issues risk not emerging. Furthermore, Tony and Alessandro are not only colleagues, but also friends. In the sense that they hang out with each other with their families, so I would say that having two riders who, in addition to being very fast, go beyond the professional relationship of colleagues and exchange feedback on the bike is a perfect combination for us”.
I know it’s very early, but given what you have in hand, what can we expect from your project in 2025? I imagine there are expectations of a certain type in terms of sporting objectives.
“Obviously yes, in the sense that our goal is to do well, it’s banal, because it means everything and nothing. But with a rider who is in the top 5, which is Jeremy, the goal is to get the same type of results, perhaps trying to take advantage of the opportunities that perhaps arise in particular conditions or tracks where he is comfortable to try to get on the podium. I think that this, for our first season, could be a reasonable goal. And I would say that there are no problems in declaring it. We don’t think that next year we will be in the running to win the world title, even if in racing I would never say never. But certainly to aim for several results on the podium”.
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