Why Ducati’s biggest MotoGP challenge for 2024 is not on the track

Now that Francesco Bagnaia’s renewal by Ducati for the next two years to the end of 2026 is complete, the performance advantage offered by its MotoGP bike will allow the Borgo Panigale chiefs to apply a policy of cost containment to pay the rest of the manufacturers’ riders.

Pre-season testing at both Sepang and Losail suggested that the season that gets underway in Qatar on Sunday may well be a continuation of the previous one, in which Bagnaia clinched his second MotoGP crown in a row. Should that be confirmed with any of the Desmosedici riders, the Bologna-based manufacturer would be celebrating its third consecutive title and fourth in its history after dominating every aspect of the competition.

Bagnaia faces the start of the championship with his renewal signed and in the best moment of his career. Jorge Martin, for his part, is aware that this will almost certainly be his last season in Pramac overalls. Both of them, along with Enea Bastianini and Franco Morbidelli, will enjoy the quality leap that the GP24 represents compared to its predecessor, which will be ridden by Marc and Alex Marquez at Gresini, and the VR46 pair of Marco Bezzecchi and Fabio Di Giannantonio.

Ducati will be hoping to use this line-up to make a difference on the track once again, especially given that the Japanese manufacturers, Yamaha and Honda, are lagging behind while the Aprilia and KTM bikes are not yet consistent enough in all conditions and on all circuits. This should also allow Ducati to tackle one of its biggest challenges at a corporate level: curbing its spending on rider salaries.

“The global economic climate is not very stable at the moment, because of the wars and conflicts that are going on,” a senior Ducati official tells Autosport. “And what Ducati doesn’t want to do is to commit to paying figures that in one or two years’ time will be hard to afford. You have to bear in mind that we sell 60,000 bikes a year, and that puts you on a different plane to, for example, Yamaha and Honda.”

Bagnaia’s renewal satisfies the wishes of both parties. His last contract signing was in February 2022, before he became MotoGP world champion. His status has changed a lot since then, and so has his salary. Although the structure and figures of that contract were very similar to those of Bastianini and Martin’s deals, the performance bonuses have now put him on a higher level than them.

“It is true that the basic amounts of Pecco, Enea and Jorge…