Ducati has unveiled their latest livery for their MotoGP race machine, the Ducati Desmosedici GP20 in Bologna, Italy last night. Dressed to impress, the new colour scheme presents the same bright red from the previous season but with more black and chrome details to make things pop even more. (more…)
Ducati confirmed that Danilo Petrucci will ride for the Ducati factory team in the 2020 MotoGP season, continuing his partnership with Andrea Dovizioso.
Petrucci did not have the expected start to the 2019 MotoGP season, hence rumours started circulating that Pramac Ducati rider Jack Miller may replace him for the 2020 season. Then everything took a 180-degree turn and Petrucci scored a victory at manufacturer’s home ground in Mugello. It was an emphatic first MotoGP win for the cheerful Italian.
It’s also a great thing for the team to continue with Petrucci’s services since continuity allows for easier development of the Desmosedici. As all riders ride differently, a new rider will only introduce a set of variables to the motorcycle’s development. And given MotoGP’s freeze of too many development throughout the season, the affair will turn into a difficult task.
Having Petrucci also opens up more funds for the factory and team. As reported by Asphalt and Rubber, Petrucci is earning between € 700,000 and € 1,000,000 per season, compared to the king’s ransom of € 12,500,000 paid to Jorge Lorenzo. That extra moolah could well be used for research and development, plus other things.
Jack Miller will like continue with his present team as well as Pecco Bagnaia. The duo will also receive the Desmosedici GP20 next year.
Danilo Petrucci has come agonizingly close to a win on many occasions, but he couldn’t have scored his maiden MotoGP race at a better place than at the Italian round in Mugello. Petrucci was having a fever coming into the race, making the win even sweeter.
It was a nail-biting race from the start, with eight riders battling for the lead. The front group included Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda), Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati), Danilo Petrucci (Mission Winnow Ducati), Jack Miller (Alma Pramac Racing), Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda), Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda), Fabio Quartaro (Petronas SRT) and Maverick Vinalez (Monster Energy Yamaha).
Marquez led into the first corner, stalked by the Ducati riders and Cal Cructchlow. But it soon developed into a slipstream race as the Ducatis made good on their supreme horsepower. Quartararo found himself swamped by the more powerful bikes and was ninth into the first turn.
The race settled down to a five-horse race by mid-point but Alex Rins overtook everyone and led the race for a number of laps, only to find his Suzuki outgunned by the Ducatis and Honda along Mugello’s long, long front straight.
Soon, Petrucci and Dovizioso overtook Marquez to set the pace. Behind Rins, Jack Miller started pushing, recording the fastest lap of the race. Unfortunately, the Australian made a mistake and crashed out at the chicanes.
That left Petrucci, Dovizioso, Marquez and Rins to battle it out until the end of the race.
Dovizioso stalked his teammate Petrucci before pouncing with three laps to go. But Petrucci fought back the next lap and held on until to start the last lap.
As Dovizioso slipstreamed Petrucci on the straight, Marquez played the role predator as he double-slipstreamed both rider and passed them into Turn One.
However, Marquez couldn’t hold on to his line and went wide mid-corner. Dovizioso slipped into the gap, but Petrucci didn’t give up and slotted inside Dovizioso turning it into three bikes abreast in the corner! Rins, holding ship in fourth probably thought he had a chance of the podium had all three crashed.
The move surprise Dovizioso who had to stand his bike up into Marquez, which forced Marquez into second and Dovizioso back into third.
Marquez kept up the pressure but Petrucci didn’t crack and held on through the last turn and past the finish line with the former in firmly in his slipstream.
Rins attempted a gutsy last gasp past on Dovizioso into the last turn but was again out-dragged to the checkered flag.
An emotional Petrucci apologized his teammate Dovizioso for the last lap move, but also thanked him for the support and assistance.
Nakagami rode a steady race to complete the top five. Maverick Vinalez fought up the field to cross the line in sixth, Mission Mission Winnow test rider Michele Pirro in seventh, Crutchlow faded to eighth at the end, Pol Espargaro made it to ninth on the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing bike, Quartararo eventually finishing tenth.
Valentino Rossi had a torrid weekend after qualifying 18th before coming together with Francesco Bagnaia and running off the track. He managed to get back to racing but crashed out eventually.
Mission Winnow Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso will drive an Audi in the DTM (German Touring Car Championship) at the Misano round next month.
He will head to San Marino track on 8th to 9th June for the DTM race immediately after the Italian MotoGP round at Mugello. Dovizioso will drive the Audi RS 5 DTM for the one-off outing, in replacing Pietro Fittipaldi in the Audi WRT Team as the latter attends to his duties in Formula 1. Fittipaldi is the Reserve driver at Haas for the Canadian F1 Grand Prix.
Dovizioso first test the Audi RS 5 DTM at the Neuburg track on 7th May and will test again at Misano on 22nd to 23rd May as his final preparation.
“I love cars and I feel lucky to be able to race with the Audi RS 5 DTM,” Dovizioso said. “It’s tough to find the time to prepare for it during the MotoGP season but I am really looking forward to compete in such a high-level context such as the DTM.”
Head of Audi motorsport Dieter Gass is naturally thrilled to welcome Dovizioso to his DTM fold and is thankful to Ducati bosses for permitting the Italian’s one-off outing.
“I’m delighted that in Andrea Dovizioso we managed to get a real superstar to race as a guest in the DTM,” Gass said. “MotoGP riders are true heroes in Italy.
“Andrea hails from the Misano area, won the Motorcycle Grand Prix there last year and is going to attract many additional fans.
Audi is Ducati’s parent company and focuses in DTM, Formula E, TCR and GT racing.
As for the DTM, three guest drivers made their appearances last year including World Rally Champion Sebastien Ogier (driving a Mercedes), 2016 World Rallycross Champion Mattias Ekstrom (driving an Audi) and former F1 and Indy Car driver and paralumpian Alex Zanardi (driving a BMW).
Other MotoGP riders have tried their hands in four-wheeled racing, including Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa, who tested for the Red Bull F1 team last year. Valentino Rossi competes in the Monza Rally annually.
The opening MotoGP round of 2019 saw Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati) and Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) repeating the exact same battle and outcome as last season’s opening race. The almost identical battle saw Marquez taking the lunge again in the final corner but the wise Italian took advantage and blasted down the front straight to cross the chequered flag first.
It was indeed a race to remember with so many eventful happenings that took place throughout the race. What we thought would be a three-way battle between Dovizioso, Marquez, and pole man Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) turned out to be an epic fight with Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Alex Rins.
The young Spaniard and his highly-improved Suzuki GSX-RR clearly showed massive superiority in the corners with Dovizioso and Marquez keeping it close behind but once they entered the front straight, the powers of the Ducati Desmosedici GP19 and Honda RC213V reigned supreme against Suzuki.
Towards the end of the race, Rins slowly slipped behind and Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) took advantage of the situation by taking the final podium spot. It was a great comeback for the Brit rider after missing several races at the end of last season due to injury.
Our very own Malaysian hero, Hafizh Syahrin (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) managed to complete the race in 20th place despite several riders in front of him dropping out due to mistakes and mechanical issues. It was a brutal race to learn from, ,especially KTM where all of their riders suffered and weren’t able to bring the fight to the top group.
In Moto2, Lorenzo Baldasarri (Flexbox HP 40) created yet another historic moment in the Motorcycle Grand Prix series by winning the first-ever Moto2 race powered by the new Triumph 765cc inline-three engine. The young Italian gave a textbook win with just 0.026 seconds separating him and the 2nd podium spot finisher, Tom Luthi (Dynavolt Intact GP).
Luthi triumphant return to Moto2 was like a fairytale after a brutal non-scoring season in Moto2 last year. Not many folks were able to pull this off when dropping back down from the premier class but Luthi proved to everyone that he is not to be underestimated, especially when he has the right bike package.
Remy Gardner (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) was looking forward to his first-ever podium finish in Moto2. Having delivered a brilliant performance throughout the race and fighting for podium contention, that dream was ripped away from him right at the finishing line by Marcel Schrotter (Dynavolt Intact GP) with only a photo-finish gap of 0.003 second separating the two.
Moto3 was equally exciting to watch as Kaito Toba (Honda Team Asia) created yet another historic moment by becoming the first-ever Japanese rider to win a Moto3 race and the first to win the Lightweight class since Tomoyoshi Koyama way back in 2007.
Having started from third position, the young Japanese rider showed great skills, patience, and intelligence in the Moto3 battle especially in the last lap where he knew that he needed to be in 2nd place in the last corner to take advantage of the slipstream to victory during the front straight.
That was what he allowed Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Leopard Racing) to do and snatched victory away from the young Italian with a gap of only 0.053 seconds. Pole sitter Aron Canet (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team) managed to salvage third place after a grueling battle with 10 other riders in the leading group where they were only spread apart within a second.
MotoGP continues to Argentina in three weeks’ time for the Gran Premio Motul de la Republica Argentina from 29-31 March 2019. Will this season be another epic battle between Ducati and Honda or will Suzuki and Yamaha have something to say about this? Stay tuned for more MotoGP updates.
Image credit: MotoGP
The 2019 MotoGP season could not have started with a more exciting qualifying session as the battle between Yamaha, Ducati, and Honda took place in the qualifying session earlier today. Under the floodlights of the Losail International Circuit in Qatar, Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) took the first pole position of the season on board the new 2019 Yamaha YZR-M1. (more…)
Desmo Owners Club Malaysia (DOCM) members got a special treat during the MotoGP 2019 Sepang Winter Test.
The special meet and greet session was organized by Ducati Malaysia in collaboration with Shell and the Mission Winnows Ducati Team. It was held on the final day of the Sepang Pre-Season Test.
The Ducati owners were given an exclusive peek into the race operations of the team as they prepare for the new MotoGP season. They were also given a guided tour of the pits to witness the new Desmosedici GP19, firsthand.
Ducati team riders Andrea Dovizioso and Danilo Petrucci then met with the DOCM members during their break. Lucky club members were picked to attend an autograph session with the riders and team members.
It was a thoroughly rewarding and proud day for the Italian bike owners as Danilo Petrucci recorded the fastest time on the timesheets. His time of 1m 58.239s was almost 0.6s faster than the 1m 58.830s record set by Jorge Lorenzo in last year’s test. Petrucci’s record means it was the fastest motorcycle to ever circulate the Sepang International Circuit.
Including Petrucci, Ducati-mounted riders were the Top 4 fastest on the final day and breaking the old record also.
Another attraction during the session was a Panigale V4 S on display. The bike utilizes many of the technologies used in the Ducati MotoGP Desmosedici.
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