Ducati MotoGP world champion with Pecco Bagnaia, but Ducati has a price to pay for world championship success.
The arrival of Gigi Dall’Igna in Ducati at the end of the 2013 season he opened a new era in the Borgo Panigale team involved in MotoGP. Just over a year earlier, Davide Tardozzi, team manager, and Paolo Ciabatti, sporting director, joined the team. Together they shook up the environment, coming close to the world title three times with Andrea Dovizioso, but without ever succeeding.
Finally in 2022 Ducati was able to conquer its second World Championship in history after that of Casey Stoner in 2007; a large part of the credit must certainly be attributed to the pilot I’m sorry Bagnaia, but general manager Gigi Dall’Igna is certainly the central link in the MotoGP project, capable of turning the regulations and the paddock inside out like a sock, with the introduction of the fins and then of the aerodynamic fairings, the holeshot devices on the front and at the rear, the famous “spoon”. Innovations that have forced competitors to adapt, sometimes teaming up to push for the banning of some gimmicks.
Ducati wins the World Championship but loses some engineers
The various Valentino Rossis had not succeeded, Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso to win the drivers’ title, while the young Pecco Bagnaia succeeded. “The pilot is the most important factor. This season Bagnaia has recorded 189 laps in the lead, while Quartararo has done 76. The other Ducati riders have collected even fewer and this demonstrates the quality of Bagnaia“, the engineer from Veneto told Speedweek.com.
But it cannot be denied that behind this world victory there is the great work of a staff who works behind the scenes, divided by technical areas. “My goal has always been to develop a complete bike that allows for different riding styles. This also happened in this championship“, continued Gigi Dall’Igna. Thanks to the managers Ducati also having brought eight bikes to the track, offering very advantageous packages to newcomers Gresini Racing and Mooney VR46.
And perhaps the best is yet to come, because with eight prototypes and the data collected during the 2022 season, the next one could also prove to be in favor of the Red. They certainly don’t stand by and watch their opponents, starting with KTM, which has stolen many figures from the Emilian group, from Alberto Giribuola to Fabiano Sterlacchinifrom Francesco Guidotti to Christian Pupulin, as well as Australian driver Jack Miller. “Are our most talented engineers leaving us? We will form others. We focus on the growth of young people, whether they are pilots or engineers“, concluded Dall’Igna.
