The Italian manufacturer has now won back-to-back riders’ titles with Francesco Bagnaia in 2022 and 2023, marking the first time in its MotoGP history that this has happened.
It capped off a year of utter dominance for Ducati, having scored a total of 43 podiums and 17 grand prix wins across its eight riders, while also securing the constructors’ crown and teams’ title with Pramac.
Ducati had to wait 15 years between its first and second titles, with Casey Stoner’s 2007 championship followed by a decline in form over the next few years which would also see it go without a race win between 2010 and 2016.
Brought over by Audi in 2012, veteran technician Gigi Dall’Igna was installed as Ducati’s general manager at the end of 2013, while a new bike designed for 2015.
Tardozzi told Autosport that the current title-winning GP23 is an evolution of that 2015 machine, which he says marked the start of the brand’s “new history” in MotoGP.
FEATURE: How Bagnaia made MotoGP history in Ducati's Red Bull-esque 2023
Source: Autosport