The debate on how advantaged are the riders who started this MotoGP World Championship with the latest Ducati specification is still alive, even if less than a few months ago, when the Borgo Panigale brand had to decide who would join Pecco Bagnaia in 2025, as second official pilot. Enea Bastianini’s poor start left Jorge Martin and Marc Marquez as the main candidates to take that place, and in the end it was Marquez who won the battle with the Spaniard.
According to Ducati, one of the most important reasons for choosing the Catalan, who at the time (Mugello) had not yet won a race, was the performance he was able to demonstrate with a 2023 prototype, which on paper was inferior in terms of performance to that of the current year. “The Ducati engineers saw my progress with the 2023 bike and this prevailed over everything else. According to Gigi (Dall’Igna, general director of Ducati Corse), the element that tipped the scales was it was what they saw on the track; my progression and my ability to improve,” said Marquez, immediately after being confirmed as the rider in red for next year.
Although Dall’Igna himself has recognized that the GP24 can be considered a better bike than its ancestor, there are still those who dare to question it or relativize it. “We have definitely improved the GP24 where the GP23 was a little weaker,” said Dall’Igna at the British Grand Prix last August, when Ducati introduced the latest package of improvements to the GP24, before interrupt development to allow Bagnaia and Martin to aim for the title with the weapons they already knew. “I must say that the technicians did an excellent job,” added the engineer.
Last year, the Ducati GP22 won four Grands Prix, 23.6% of the brand’s total (17). This season, the percentage drops to 13.3%, with the GP23 (Marquez) winning two of the brand’s 15 overall Grands Prix.
A look at the details of the trail left so far by the two models on the track, and a comparison with what happened in the last championship, not only confirms the version of Dall’Igna, the father of these creatures, but practically puts the question to rest. Above all because of the four riders competing on a GP23, only Marquez managed to resist the towing of the “lucky” riders racing on the GP24, especially from the second part of the calendar onwards.
Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team, Jorge Martín, Pramac Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
The comparison between the statistics of the 2023 GP22 and those of the 2024 GP23 confirms that the leap in quality of the 2024 bike compared to the 2023 one is much greater than that between the 2022 and 2023 prototype.
GP22’s podium percentage in 2023 was 30.2% of the brand’s total (13 out of 43). The same parameter drops to 20.8% this year with the GP23, ten podiums out of 48, eight of which by Marquez.
Last season, the four riders who participated in the championship with the “old” Ducati (GP22) achieved a total of four victories (three by Bezzecchi and one by Di Giannantonio), 13 podiums, three pole positions (two by Marini and one by Alex Marquez) and 15 starts on the front row. These four victories represent 23.6% of the 17 total successes of the Bolognese manufacturer. The percentage rises to 30.2% with podiums (13 of Ducati’s 43 total podiums). It is worth noting that all four drivers managed to finish on the podium on Sunday and all started at least once from the front row.
On the other hand, these percentages drop when doing the same exercise in 2024 with those who currently drive the old version (GP23). And of these, only Marquez keeps the Desmosedici at the top. Last year’s spec won only twice (Aragon and Misano) – always in the hands of #93 – and this translates into 13.3% of Ducati’s total number of victories (15). As regards the number of podiums, of the 48 total for the Italian manufacturer, only ten (20.8%) belong to GP23, eight of which by the multiple champion from Cervera.
Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team, Fabio Di Giannantonio, Gresini Racing, Luca Marini, VR46 Racing Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
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