When the brothers Adriano, Marcello and Bruno Ducati founded a business company in 1926 for the manufacture of radio components, cameras and electric razors, among other objects, they would not have believed that almost a century later their surname would be linked to the most important motorcycle team of the moment, the current desire of every MotoGP rider. Nor would they have imagined that his lineage would be defended on the asphalt by Marc Márquez, eight-time world champion, one of the best in history and the icing on the cake after decades of searching for excellence.
The one from Cervera will be presented this Monday with the Italian team, after almost a century of the company created by the Ducati brothers
That first initiative by the three Bolognese was so successful that nine years later they expanded with a new factory in Borgo Panigale, now the headquarters of the Italian team. An Allied bombing in World War II shattered the premises and from those ashes arose the germ of the subsequent passion for motorcycling. Motivated by the need to rebuild the country and the company, he began the manufacture of small engines. First for bicycles, then for mopeds, with the birth of the Ducati Cucciolo, the brand’s first complete creation, and finally motorcycles, some of them produced in the first years in Barcelona.
The Stoner bike was developed in part by Checa and Gibernau; Lorenzo, the Spaniard who has won with Ducati
The entry of Giuseppe Montano as general director turned the business towards sporting events and the hiring of engineer Fabio Taglioni caused Ducati to take off in racing. Then came the first victory in the World Speed Championship, by Alberto Gandossi in 1958, and the time with the team of nine-time world champion Mike Hailwood. Ricardo Fargas, Salvador Cañellas and Benjamín Grau, with their triumphs in the 24 hours of Montjuïc between the 60s and 80s, were the first Spaniards to leave their mark before Ducati became a power in the Superbike championship.
I was leaking oil and saying ‘where have I gotten myself’. “That year was the most brutal development of a Ducati motorcycle.”
But it was not until 2003 when the brand made the definitive leap to the premier category of the World Championship. “I was leaking oil and saying ‘where have I gotten myself?’ Everything was more Italian-style. With the Japanese, at Yamaha, everything was more methodical and consensual. It was faster there, we tried to see what would happen. I have very good memories,” Carlos Checa, who in 2005 was the first Spaniard to ride an official Ducati in MotoGP, explains to this newspaper. The Catalan explains that that year “probably the most brutal development was made in the team” and denies the myth of an indomitable motorcycle that the Desmosedici carries: “It was not uncontrollable, on the contrary, although everything is complicated when you have 250 hp in 10 cm of tire”. At the end of his only year in the team, much to his chagrin, Checa was left with the satisfaction of “having left behind a winning bike” after scoring two podiums in the last races of the season.
“On the first day I said that my challenges were to win the first race and create a bike to win the title in 2007”
The work of the one from Sant Fruitós de Bages was followed the following year by another Spaniard, Sete Gibernau. “On the first day I told all the workers that my challenge was to win the first race in Jerez and that during the season we would build a bike to win the title in 2007,” the former Barcelona rider told La Vanguardia. Gibernau could not fulfill his first promise in the cathedral, since “the gear lever lost a nut and came apart,” and that misfortune weighed on him: “That day, without me even knowing it, I retired. My head didn’t know how to manage it.”
“I missed winning a race before and now I would have another World Cup; Márquez’s style is perfect for Ducati”
The Catalan, who has “great memories” of Ducati, announced shortly afterwards his firm decision to not undertake the second year of his contract, but together with the team they worked “like crazy” to achieve the second objective. “We took the bike out to the circuit on Monday after the Motegi GP in Japan. It was confirmed, that bike could win the World Cup,” he says. And so it was. Casey Stoner, with a masterful season, after 10 wins in 18 races, reaped the rewards in 2007 and achieved the team’s first title in MotoGP.
After that success, Ducati changed the chassis of the motorcycle, with a risky concept that was out of the ordinary, and that daring was paid for with more discreet results by champion riders such as Stoner himself, the late Nicky Hayden and Valentino Rossi himself. Also Jorge Lorenzo in 2017 and 2018. “The experience was good. I had lost motivation and I regained it at Ducati, even though it took me more than a year to win. The team was very passionate. Until the last second they wanted to give me the best motorcycle, even when they knew I was going to Honda,” the Mallorcan tells this newspaper.
Marc Márquez, at the Barcelona test with the Ducati.
The triple MotoGP champion remembers a “very nervous bike”, all “power, aerodynamics, braking and acceleration, but that lost a lot when cornering”. “It was difficult for me to understand, because I wanted to ride it like a Yamaha. It was a shame not to adapt sooner. He missed winning before and surely now he would have another World Cup,” says the former rider, winner of three races with the Ducati, now “a super complete and almost perfect motorcycle” improved by the “perfectionist” engineer Gigi Dall’Igna.
Helped by the pioneering abassatore system, which flattens the bike during the lap, Pecco Bagnaia took advantage of all those years of search, trial and error, with the conquest of two titles, in 2022 and 2023. Now, his rival is in the box beside. “Márquez’s style is perfect for the Ducati, he is a great braker. “It fits him like a glove,” says Lorenzo. “It will be interesting. Above all, see how the team is going to manage the inevitable friction between the drivers. They are going to have to do more psychological work,” says Gibernau. Checa is clearer: “Marc has beaten him before starting, he will win the World Cup.” Mile zero of this duel, the culmination of Ducati’s history, begins this Monday in Madonna di Campiglio (Italy) with the presentation of the new tandem, undoubtedly the rivals to beat.
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