Ducati, interview with Claudio Domenicali: “Valentino Rossi as tester? Dall’Igna decides’

Claudio Domenicali is satisfied. Without ifs and buts. For Ducati’s best season, even if the big target was missed, the Riders’ World Championship went to Fabio Quartararo and Yamaha, while the red won all the rest: Constructors, Teams and Independent Team titles, thanks to the contribution of Pramac. “Really, there is no regret, I am totally satisfied with how we finished – says the CEO. Ducati – For a company like us, the most important aim is to develop technology to be used on road models. And I believe that we have never been able to build a bike like this year, I’m talking about the Panigale, so close to the racing one. We already had the best sports car, we improved it. Then, it is clear that all the brands in MotoGP are aiming for the World Championship: the riders are the most prestigious, and Quartararo rightly won it, because he was good and consistent throughout the season, he almost never made a mistake. But in the eyes of the manufacturer, finishing with an all-Ducati podium, as never in history, has enormous value, confirmed by the best time in the Jerez tests in view of 2022. This, from an engineering point of view, you would say is the derivative, which indicates the future. , while the absolute value indicates the present: so I would say that it is a very positive output derivative. Some missed opportunities, some mistakes by Pecco, some oddities in some tires fail to sadden a great 2021. Both I and Gigi Dall’Igna consider this the best season ever ”.

Without Rossi, the weight of Italian motorcycling is now on the shoulders of Ducati and its riders, Bagnaia and Bastianini above all.
“I know, even if Valentino is irreplaceable, he is unique, a single person who embodied a combination of talent, determination, orientation towards extreme results and sympathy. On the other hand, however, Ducati represents much more than it was ten years ago, a solid, certain presence, a nice way of identifying for Italians with something that is not only sporty, but also technological. Like Ferrari in F1, which is like the national team ”.

Those two years with Rossi in Ducati were his and yours failures. Would he have gone strong with this Ducati?
“Today’s Ducati is very different, the answer is that I think it would have gone strong with this one.”

Will he test with you or will he stay loyal to Yamaha?
“This is decided by Gigi. We have no regrets, it was a time when we weren’t made for each other. It was a bike very close to Stoner’s expectations and difficult to interpret for a rider accustomed to a more balanced bike ”.

Bagnaia is showing concreteness and personality. For many it will be the real favorite in 2022.
“Pecco finished in fantastic form, he is the rider who did best in the second part of the season. It took him a while to make the step into MotoGP, but after Aragon he made a turn. In reality it was seen that he was ready to win, but for one reason or another he did not take her home. He is a very sweet boy, but when he enters the garage he is extremely determined, just look at the eyes and you see a different face. The title will be played in 2022 ”.

Jack Miller said: Ducati invents, others copy.
“I believe that Gigi has fully interpreted Ducati’s way of racing: we were the first to give wings in MotoGP and on a production bike, we like to get involved from an engineering and technological point of view to offer emotions. extraordinary both from the point of view of driving and the beauty of the design. And racing is our advanced laboratory. There is a lot of performance planning, which is one of the things that interests us most because it develops knowledge, competence, know-how. And then there is great confidence on the part of the riders, who face the new technological solutions with a positive spirit: in the past we struggled more because some riders had prejudices, instead we need to insist and experiment. There is this magical alchemy of fast drivers who trust the engineers a lot ”.

At the production level you have launched “Unica”. Is the Ducati a haute couture motorcycle?
“Absolutely, we want more and more to be able to tailor our bikes to the most extreme desires of enthusiasts. And with Unica, the configuration will be so extreme that in terms of customization, the company will guarantee that there will not be an identical bike “.

You presented the Desert X: is there an idea of ​​racing the Dakar if a different category is born?
“We would very much like to get involved in sporting competitions off the asphalt. We are thinking about where we can already take the Desert X. Ducati and the competitions are unique. The Desert X is something completely new to us, because it was developed completely out of the way. I was in Sardinia for the panel tests, an exercise I do once a month with my managers and test drivers: I’m not an off-road expert, but I had a lot of fun “.

Do you feel atypical?
“I feel like a lucky ad, I do something that I like like a beast and that’s my job. I have been with Ducati for 30 years, I entered with shorts fresh from university, there were three engineers, now we are more than 300. Once I disassembled the Ducatis I owned, now I have the opportunity to create and influence them together with a team of people to create the future “.

The MotoE when are you testing it?
“I just missed Michele Pirro’s shakedown. At the next opportunity, the MotoE is mine “.

Was it difficult to enter an almost unknown world?
“We have created a small group, we call them i marines, because they do everything themselves, isolated and separated, with a budget at their disposal and the power of life and death. They are the most envied in the company “.

Audi will debut in the Dakar with an electric car. How much collaboration is there in the Group?
“A lot. There is a Volkswagen Group battery competence center in Salzgitter, there is local expertise at Audi. We will soon be at Porsche, where in addition to the Taycan there is the racing version Mission R. For a company like us, accessing these technologies is an extraordinary advantage. “