Ducati’s “new history” in MotoGP began in 2015 – Tardozzi

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.

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“I think that there is a history that after the arrival of [general manager] Gigi Dall’Igna, [and] we say new management, everything changed after 2014 and then we started with a new history in MotoGP with the new bike that we have been developing year by year,” said Tardozzi.

“This bike is not a revolution. This bike is the evolution of the 2015 [bike]. So, we arrived at this point where everybody is very competitive.

“We were in trouble when everybody said ‘only Casey Stoner can ride the bike’, and now we’ve come to the point where we have eight riders and all eight riders are very competitive and this is something that made us really proud about our job.

“I think in this moment we arrived to the point where we can manage the results considering we never stopped evolving the bike, because our competitors are honestly very tough and we are scared they can find something that can make them faster than us.

“But, in the end, we are happy about this situation.”

Six of Ducati’s eight riders took grand prix victories in 2023, while all of them saw the podium at least once across the 20-round campaign.