ducati presents in Madonna of Campiglioan enclave to which he returns after a decade, to his teams of MotoGP Y superbike for the 2023 season, in which it defends the triple crown, with its driver, constructor and team titles, Lenovo and Aruba. “The best year in our history”, he begins Claudio Domenicali. “Today we have experienced another memorable moment for Ducati. For the first time in history we have presented together the official MotoGP and WorldSBK teams, the Ducati Lenovo Team and Team Aruba.it Racing Ducati. Starting all over again together is a splendid way to celebrate the value and skills of the best team in the history of Ducati Corse, who with their daily work have brought us to the top of the world. We like to define ourselves as capable of creating a magical combination of technology, quality and beauty”, explains the CEO of ducati, who also announced Monster Energy as a sponsor. A season that they hope to repeat in 2023 “with work and humility, which is important in life and in sport”, and “with a motorcycle that will present many technical evolutions”, he affirms Luigi Luigi Dall’Igna, who adds: “The start of a season is always exciting and this year it will be even more so. The goal is always to surpass ourselves. The statistics tell us that very few made it, but apart from the large number of strong drivers on the grid, they must have worked hard over the winter. I can’t wait to start defending the three titles we won last year”. To discover the performance on the track, we will have to wait for the first pre-season tests in Malaysia.
In addition to learning about the new Italian mounts, the attraction was to see what numbers their defending riders chose, to know if Bagnaia Y Baptist They were going to change their usual 63 and 19 for number 1, a privilege reserved for champions. And in ducati They welcomed the change: both drivers will wear number 1, with their usual numbers inside it, a nod to last season, with which they were proclaimed world champions. The unknown was resolved when the desmosedici and the Panigale.
Now it’s time to defend them. And fight against the statistics, the one that says that the bearer of number 1 does not repeat the title. In the case of MotoGP, Casey Stoner he was the last to sport the unit in his fairing. He changed it in the 2012 season, bypassing the curse. He finished third in the World Cup behind Lawrence Y Pedrosa. nicky haydeneighth in 2007, himself Casey runner-up in 2008 and Jorge Lawrence second in 2011, are the latest examples of dethroned kings with the 1. Going further back in the calendar, Alex Crivilleninth in 2000, and Kenny Roberts Jr. eleventh in the following year, confirm the bloody coincidence. “It has been a difficult decision, but I am very happy with wearing the number 1. I expect a tougher World Cup than last year and the goal is to give everything to defend this number. I have the best bike and the best team”, commented Bagnaia at the event. “For my part, I decided with my daughter, during the winter”, recalls the Spaniard, who agrees that it has not been an easy decision: “One day he liked one better and the other 19″, he joked. In a serious tone, the man from Talavera stated: “I still have fun riding, it’s the best motivation.”
The companions of Bagnaia and Bautista did not have this choice problem. bastianini comes as a companion sin to the energetic Ducati official. His four victories last season have earned him the red jumpsuit, a challenge that he faces with “responsibility”: “I am very excited, 2022 was the best year of my career and now the challenge is important. The goal is to do a good job, give 100% and have fun. I hope I can show that I deserved this opportunity,” he explains. ‘The beast’.
As for the bike, beyond the numbers, a lot of red, the hallmark of Borgo Panigale on the Desmosedici and on the Panigale. It is often said that what is important is inside. In the bowels of the prototype, a 4-stroke V4 engine at 90º, liquid cooling, distribution desmodromic with double overhead camshaft and 4 valves per cylinder. But with Ducati you have to look, and a lot, at the external appearance, a figure of 157 kg, and its aerodynamic evolutions with which the Italian brand sets the pace. And we will see if in 2023 it is like that.