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In the red night of Bologna, the two stars that shone on stage were those of Bagnaia and Bautista. Behind them, however, there was another. Gigi Dall'Igna is the General Manager of Ducati Corse, the father of the Desmosedici and the Panigale V4 and, as a good parent, he could not have been more proud of his creatures. "It takes a lot of effort and a lot of work to be able to achieve these results, but when you get there, the satisfaction is incredible" smiles the engineer from Veneto.
When did you realize it would be the right season?
“This has definitely been a golden year, but you only know it's the right one when you win. Motorcycle racing is always unpredictable and anything can happen, from a technical problem to a possibly stupid crash that can compromise everything. Or lose a wing, as happened at Valencia to Bagnaia. Until the end you can't be calm and we struggled until the end".
Bagnaia recovered 91 points on Quartararo: this is also a record.
“The effort is always the same, whether one believes it or not. When you believe in it, however, you find a way to solve problems, otherwise you've lost even before starting".
Are you more fond of the Desmosedici MotoGP or the Panigale SBK?
“It's like asking a dad which son he prefers, it's a question that can't be answered. They are both beautiful and both have given me incredible satisfaction".
You asked your collaborators to look back on everything you've done this year and get thrilled again. What thrilled you the most?
“Thinking of all the effort behind these results. There's a lot of determination from everyone at Ducati".
Bagnaia would like to take Ducati to the Suzuka 8 Hours, what do you think?
“It's a really nice and interesting dream, I hope to be able to make it come true for him. It won't be easy because there are a few technical problems to solve to do something like this right, but I'd like to build a dream team for Suzuka. I don't think we will be talking about it for 2023. 2024? These are things that take time to be managed well, it makes no sense to participate in a race like this if there is no possibility of doing well".
In MotoGP you were used to opponents trying to clip your wings, now even those in SBK are complaining. Do you think Ducati frightens everyone?
“It's part of their game. When I had to catch up, I honestly thought and acted differently, I never asked for someone to be penalized or for technical solutions to be banned. Evidently in this world we were different”.
Rivals say the Ducati is the best bike, but you also seem to have the best riders: Bagnaia, Bastianini, Martin, Bezzecchi and others.
“A few years ago we decided to focus on young riders and we have many because with a policy like this we have to extend the bandwidth. I like working with young guys, but it can be a risk because they can get lost along the way and not realize their talent. We decided to increase the number of bikes and riders on the track and it's a strategy that paid off. We chose well and now we have a strong base of riders. We are ready to give them what it takes to be able to demonstrate all their talent”.
Will we still see 8 Ducatis on the track for a long time?
“It is clear that everything plays against us. The manufacturers take a significant amount of money from the organizer to have a satellite team and we, having more than one private team, have to offer them our bike at a discount. It will be difficult that we will be able to go on for a long time with 8 bikes, but as long as we can we will continue".
What's the next dream?
“In the meantime, we will try to reconfirm what we did, which already seems very difficult to me. We try to use all our neurons to achieve this goal.”
Next year you will also have to think about MotoE.
"To build that bike, we started from a blank sheet of paper and few times in a designer's life you happen to do so, so it has its fascination".
Are you going to give yourself a special holiday gift?
“I will definitely stay with my family, look back on everything we did and spend some time with friends, which are an important part of a person's life.”
