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When Ducati won the MotoGP World Championship in 2022 with Pecco Bagnaia for the first time since 2007 (with Casey Stoner) and conquered no fewer than twelve GP triumphs in 20 Grand Prix races, the Borgo Panigale brand seemed to have reached the pinnacle of all MotoGP dreams with Gigi Dall'Igna at the helm. Thanks to Álvaro Bautista, Ducati also outclassed its opponents in the Superbike World Championship for the first time since 2011 (Carlos Checa on the 1098R).
But the genius Dall'Igna did not want to rest on his laurels. “We still have big plans and want to win the Supersport World Championship for the first time in 2023,” he announced, not even mentioning that Ducati would be the sole motorcycle supplier in the new MotoE World Championship for the first time in 2023 and would also take this title - in this category even without any opposition.
In fact, thanks to Niccolò Bulega, the Supersport World Championship was also won in 2023, and Ducati Corse triumphed once again in MotoGP and SBK.
And that's not all: Ducati seized the 2023 MotoGP World Championship with Bagnaia, Martin and Bezzecchi taking the top three places in the overall standings for the first time. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM), who finished fourth in the World Championship in 2023, lost no fewer than 174 points.
Astonishing: Ducati won in 2023 with five different riders! Bagnaia (7x), Martin (4x), Bezzecchi (3x), Zarco (1x) and Bastianini (1x). Honda dominated the Texas GP thanks to LCR rider Alex Rins, while Aprilia Racing scored maximum points with Aleix Espargaró at Silverstone and Catalunya - he steered the Aprilia to sixth place overall.
But the 2024 season surpassed everything that had gone before. Eight times in a row, the Ducati aces have claimed all three podium places on Sunday. After 11 of 20 Grand Prix races, four Ducati riders occupy the top four places in the World Championship. The standings: 1. Bagnaia 275. 2. Martin 270. 3. Bastianini 214. 4. Marc Márquez 192. 5. Viñales (Aprilia) 139. 6. Binder (KTM) 128.
A devastating result for the Ducati opponents, as the Desmosedici bikes have already taken ten victories in eleven races this season. Exception: Maverick Viñales won at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Texas.
The situation is particularly bad for the unsuccessful concession teams of Honda and Yamaha. Fabio Quartararo has only scored 49 points on the M1 so far and is running 226 points behind leader Bagnaia, with whom he fought a fierce battle for the MotoGP world title in 2022. “I have no grip at the back and I'm too slow out of the corners,” said the 2021 World Champion in Spielberg after qualifying in 15th place. In Q2, the Frenchman was once again just a spectator.
Honda's situation has been pitiful for more than four years. Repsol Honda has not managed to score a win since October 2021. Zarco, Mir, Nakagami and Marini are in the dismal 18th, 19th, 20th and 24th positions in the championship standings. Even the KTM Wild Card riders Dani Pedrosa and Pol Espargaró are ahead of Valentino Rossi's brother, who, like Joan Mir (2020 World Champion with Suzuki), rides the Repsol Honda Factory Honda which won 6 titles in 7 years with Marc Márquez from 2013 to 2019. But afterwards the RC213V derailed. Even Marc Márquez hat to be satisfied with 13th and 14th place overall in 2022 and 2023. Even with his Ducati GP23 second hand motorcycle he is running fourth overall in 2024.
Like their Japanese rivals KTM has also fallen short of expectations. At their home GP of all places, the Austrians suffered their worst result of the year with Brad Binder (without a win in three years on the KTM RC16) in fifth place, a dismal 18.620 seconds off the pace.
Super-talented Pedro Acosta crashed his RC16 three times on Friday and was unable to finish higher than 13th on Sunday (he lost 33.736 seconds to the winner). “It was a very hard race. We had several problems, especially related to the acceleration, and I don't understand why. Was it more my fault or the fault of the bike? We all suffered, seeing that Binder crossed the finish line in fifth place with an important gap to Bagnaia”, the Moto2 World Champion of 2023 complained. ”Todays defeat will be hard to swallow. But the whole KTM group is working hard.”
Red Bull KTM will show up with the best MotoGP riders line up ever in 2025 by running Brad Binder and Pedro Acosta in the Factory team and placing Enea Bastianini and Maverick Viñales in the Tech3 squad. Both future Tech3 riders have won Grands Prix in 2024 and expect a winning bike from KTM for the coming season - like Binder and Acosta.
But at the moment there is no sign of Ducati getting weaker after this most amazing winning streak - even if they will lose the Pramac MotoGP team to Yamaha for 2025.
Joan Mir shows a lot of respect for the performance of the Desmosedici. “At Ducati they have done a magnificent job. The level of the bike s spectacular”, he admitted after finishing 17th (just ahead of Fabio Quartararo) and losing 40.432 sec to the winner.
