With the counter at zero the MotoGP World Championship gave the same opportunities for all. But with the bikes on the track, the championship became a ‘Ducati’ Cup in which the house of Borgo Panigale extended the domain that Bagnaia established in the previous course. The Desmosedici was once again the benchmark, they began with two consecutive victories and after Austin’s hiatus they regained the reins of a podium where only the Honda of Rins, it has deprived them of fulfilling at the highest level. Martin, Bezzecchi and Bagnaia the victories of the Italian brand have been shared in the first eight races of the course and at the same time, these pilots began to forge a historical record to which Aleix Espargaró has put the brake on him.
Before reaching the European triplet (Mugello, Sachsenring and Assen) that marked the calendar, Le Mans podium (with Bezzecchi, Martin and Zarco) was the first stone from a brand that previously only Honda had been able to sign in the past. The signature of golden wing consumption three consecutive triplets in the drawer during the 2003 season, which coincided with Valentino Rossi’s last title with the Japanese in the premier class. During that year HRC was active with six motorcycles on the MotoGP grid and in River (Rossi, Sete and Tamada), Peaceful (Biaggi, Rossi and Hayden) and Malaysia (Rossi, Gibernau and Biaggi) the pilots of the house of Tokyo made full on the podium, establishing a streak that no one else matched until Ducati has done the same in this 2023.
Twenty years have had to pass to see a dominance similar to that of Honda back then and while the Borgo Panigale house might have broken the record set by the Japanese, Aleix Espargaró’s third in Assen puts the counter back to zero for the Italian brand. Twelve races after his last visit to the podium, the Aprilia rider returned with a third place that deprived the Desmosedici of making history. Never has a brand in MotoGP been able to link four triplets in a row and Ducati has to start over after having been left with honey on his lips after the triplets of Le Mans, Mugello (Bagnaia, Martín and Zarco) and Germany (Martín, Bagnaia and Zarco). Although they should not have it very complicated when repeating the feat.
The top-5 of the classification is ruled by four Ducatis, being Binder’s KTM the exception to this rule. The power of the Italian motorcycle in each of the circuits that the World Championship is visiting is unquestionable and although in Assen the alternative of Aleix It was precisely the South African, who in fact gave up the drawer for exceeding the limits of the track in the last lap, the usual thing is that It would have been another Desmosedici the bike that would have been at the gates of the first three positions. Because? Because except for Austin and Jerez, the rest of the podiums have had at least two Borgo Panigale mounts and six (Pecco, Bezzecchi, Martín, Zarco, Álex Márquez and Marini) of its eight pilots already know what it is to get on the drawer. The good performance is unquestionable and its mastery too. Continue making history, a matter of time.