Ducati is planning a lot of new features without certainty of validating them

Don't count on Gigi Dall'Igna to show off her game at the first meeting of the year! The Italian engineer may know that Ducati is in a very comfortable position, but he nonetheless remains cautious. He is well aware that his bike is the most watched of all given the level it has reached, but also knows that he is not immune to going off track in his development.

Since the hiccup of 2022, when the very last engine spec was rejected by Pecco Bagnaia just before the launch of the championship, the Borgo Panigale workshops are aware that they are not immune to an error in their choice of development. Given the value of the model which won almost all of last year's races and even left only a few places on the podiums for the competition, the watchword is to work in continuity in avoiding at all costs to revolutionize the Desmosedici.

“The goal we have this year is not to shake up the bike, but to improve it a little,” explains the general manager of Ducati Corse, “because we are starting from a base that has given us a lot of satisfaction. I believe that we will have to be careful before introducing different and innovative solutions on this bike.”

This reluctance to attempt risky innovations on the GP25 is all the more justified as engine development is about to be frozen: the models approved before the first Grand Prix of the season, at the end of February, will not change until 2027, the date of entry into force of a brand new technical regulation, except for brands benefiting from technical concessions leaving the most latitude.

Ducati is the brand that should benefit the most from this rule if it confirms its very high level of performance with the GP25. The fact remains that the technical teams have prepared a good number of developments for the rest of the parts that can still evolve a little more freely, which will soon be evaluated by Pecco Bagnaia and Marc Márquez. The choice to validate them or not will, however, be carefully considered.

“Now that we are preparing for the test which will take place in two weeks, I must say that there is really a lot of material to try,” explained Gigi Dall'Igna. “There will be a new swingarm, a new chassis, a completely different fairing, we have also redesigned the holeshot device so we will also have something new to experiment with, but I believe that we will have to be very rigorous in the selection of this material.”

“We will only have to apply what will definitely make us make a difference, and leave aside what leaves us with some additional doubts before trying it again perhaps during the season. There are a lot of things that we will evaluate when and how to introduce them also depending on what our adversaries will do. I am someone who takes risks, who has taken a lot in his life, but I believe that we must be very intelligent in approaching risks. You should only take risks when it is useful and That’s what we’ll do.”