Ducati

Ducati

Ducati Corse is the racing division of Ducati and operates at the highest level of motorcycle racing in MotoGP and SBK World Championships. Ducati made its foray into MotoGP in 2003 after the focus of MotoGP shifted from two-stroke to four-stroke machines. The Italian company has always zoomed around the race track in its iconic red livery.

The team’s first title came in 2007, four years after its debut season. Other than that one season, the 2000s saw the Ducati predominantly playing second-best to the Japanese manufactures Honda and Yamaha. The Italian team managed to recreate some of the magic of the 2007 season in 2008, but Casey Stoner still fell short of retaining the riders’ championship. The early 2010s brewed even more trouble for Ducati as the team failed to put up a challenge to take home the riders’ championship. The team managed only four podium finishes between 2011 and 2013.

After massive changes to the team in 2013, the Italian company is back to winning ways and is once again in contention for the riders’ championship, with the team securing its first victory in the 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix since 2010. The 2017 season was the company’s second-best season in terms of wins as they managed to secure six wins equalling the 2008 season record.

World Championships

Since Ducati’s entry into MotoGP class, the Italian team has managed to grab one riders’ world championship and one constructors’ championship in 2007. Casey Stoner took home the riders’ championship and is the team’s most successful MotoGP rider till date.

Current Riders

Andrea Dovizioso joined the Ducati Factory team in 2013 and is racing for the Italian team since then. The Italian rider had a very successful 2017 campaign that saw him finish second in the riders’ championship, 37 points behind Marc Marquez.

Jorge Lorenzo joined the Italian racing team in 2017 and has had a mediocre spell with the team. The 2018 season has seen only marginal improvement for the Spaniard so far. Interestingly, it will be the Spaniard’s last year at Ducati as he has signed a contract to make a switch to Honda in 2019.

Ducati has announced that Danilo Petrucci would replace the Spaniard in 2019.

General Manager: Luigi Dall’Igna is credited for bringing the Italian company back to winning ways in both MotoGP and SBK World Championships. The Italian is very well-known for engineering Aprilia’s success in the last decade and has joined the Ducati Corse team in 2013 as the general manager.

Team Manager: Davide Tardozzi

First MotoGP / Debut race: 2003 Japanese Grand Prix