From its streetbikes to organising the pit box for a race weekend, Ducati is a pioneer.

“Italians do it better” is more than a slogan on a T-shirt worn by pop stars, and in MotoGP™, Ducati is proud to keep il Tricoloreflying high. The Bologna-based company strikes a unique combination of creativity, style, and innovation, on andoff track.

“This is Ducati’s strength,” Sporting Director Paolo Ciabatti underlines. “Being a relatively small company that sells 55,000 bikes per year versus the Japanese giants that build millions of units, we need to use genius and creativity and beat different paths from our competitors.”

Ducati was first with winglets and a swingarm deflector. Are you stronger after all the politics?

In both cases, our competitors followed our direction. The deflector appeal could have been managed better because we spent a lot of time, energy, and money to defend ourselves from a technical point of view. Above all, we had to show our know-how to our competitors.

Riders Andrea Dovizioso and Danilo Petrucci have a close relationship, which can be rare for team-mates in the MotoGP™ paddock.

This shows how Ducati is innovative on track but also in the management of the garage. Having a team with two champions has pros and cons. This year, we created an environment with two riders who share data, train together, and support each other. The result is very positive.

What are your targets?

The riders have different targets: winning the title for Dovi, and finishing in the top five and winning his first race for Danilo. We are currently second and third in the standings, but the season is long.

Share