Ducati scales back supply of new MotoGP bikes

Ducati will be supplying one less entry with a latest-specification motorcycle in next year’s MotoGP championship.

While four teams will continue to campaign a total of eight Desmosedicis on a full-time basis in 2023, only half of those bikes will be GP23s.

Naturally, the Ducati Lenovo Team and Prima Pramac Racing, the senior satellite team, will still receive the newest machinery, while Gresini Racing has similarly fielded only GP21s this year.

However, the move is, in theory, a downgrade for Valentino Rossi’s Mooney VR46 Racing Team, given Luca Marini has been on a GP22 this year yet will remain on one next year also.

Factory Team Manager Davide Tardozzi confirmed the decision during practice for this weekend’s Aragon Grand Prix.

However, he reasons that it is a positive step for the more junior satellite teams and their generally less experienced riders.

“Both VR46 and Gresini will be in 2022-spec and only Pramac will have exactly our bikes, the factory bikes,” said Tardozzi on the television world feed.

He added, “We think it’s better to let the other two satellite teams concentrate on what is the well-known bike with a lot of data, and to let the younger riders grow in a better way with more data, [which] is much easier for them.”

To that point, the Ducati Team and Pramac struggled initially this year with the GP22, whereas Enea Bastianini won Round 1 of the season on a Gresini-entered GP21.

That came after factory team pilot Jack Miller had agreed during pre-season testing that the GP21 was the better bike at that point in time.

True to the Queenslander’s comments about the GP22 having more potential, however, his team-mate Francesco Bagnaia has now won the last four races in a row and moved to 30 points behind Yamaha’s championship leader, Fabio Quartararo.

Bastianini will, of course, ride a GP23 next year given he replaces Miller at the works team, while Pramac will field an unchanged line-up of Jorge Martin and Johann Zarco, and VR46 has similarly confirmed both Marini and 2022 rookie Marco Bezzecchi are staying on.

At Gresini, Alex Marquez moves over from LCR Honda to take the berth vacated by ‘La Bestia’, joining incumbent Fabio Di Giannantonio, who is also in his first season in the premier class.