The biggest victories of the Ducati in Superbike and MotoGP
You write Ducati, you read history, legend and victories. The motorcycle manufacturer based in Borgo Panigale is a real institution in the motor field, able to stand up to Japanese giants of the caliber of Yamaha and Honda. A fair comparison both in terms of the quality of the bikes and when they are put to the test in the various motor competitions. An important story that of Ducati, therefore, made of great triumphs and pilots who have made thousands of fans dream.
Superbike victories
To declaim the palmares of the Ducati, we can only start from the Superbike. Since 1988, the first year in which the world championship of this category was staged, the Ducati has taken part in it, thus being one of the most important pillars. The first Ducati presented at World Superbike is the Ducati 851, ridden by Marco Lucchinelli. The Ligurian rider, who in 1981 won the 500cc World Championship with Suzuki, managed to finish only fifth behind Fred Merkel (first winner in World Superbike), Fabrizio Pirovano, Davide Tardozzi and Stéphane Mertens. The next edition goes better to the "red" of Borgo Panigale, with the third place of the French Raymond Roche. However, these are two interlocutory World Championships, the first of a series of editions that will make the Ducati one of the "alpha houses" of this motorcycle category.
In the 1990 edition, Roche entered the restart line with legitimate ambitions of final victory. The first six races confirm these feelings, as French won three first places and as many second places. Despite a slight drop in the final part of the season, Roche won the World Championship with 382 points: 57 ahead of Fabrizio Pirovano and 82 ahead of Stéphane Mertens. For Ducati it is the first success in Superbike and, if winning is difficult, confirming itself is even more so. The Italian motorcycle manufacturer, however, proves with facts that the World Championship won by Roche was not just an episodic exploit. In view of the 1991 edition, Doug Polen arrives at the Ducati . The American rider comes from not exciting results driving the Suzuki, but with the "red" is a whole different music. Polen, in fact, won the World Championship winning 17 races out of 24 and clearly distancing his teammate Roche. The American has the French as the first "opponent" also in the 1992 World Cup. This time the competition is tighter, but in the end Polen triumphs again, entering even more into the hearts of the Ducatists.
1993 was an interim year at Superbike level for Ducati. To triumph is the Kawasaki driven by Scott Russell, who wins the duel with Carl Fogarty. The British driver arrived in Ducati in 1992 and, in the first two World Championships with the Italian team, obtained a ninth and a second place. If the 1993 edition coincided for him with a crescendo of positive results, with the next two he began to build his legend both in terms of the history of Ducati and World Superbike. With his Ducati 916, in 1994 he took revenge with Russell while the following year he triumphed with teammate Troy Corser as his first competitor. Fogarty's epic, however, is far from over. After another World Championship won by Ducati in 1995 (but branded Corser) and after the exploits of 1996 of John Kocinski with Honda, Fogarty won two more World Championships. With this double success, not only does he become an almost unattainable legend for all Ducatists, but he is still the rider to have won the most World Superbike Championships.
In the following years, riders and motorcycle manufacturers alternated, with Ducati almost always at the forefront. After the golden age of Fogarty, the "red" finds in Troy Bayliss a rider able to win the 2001, 2006 and 2008 editions of the World Superbike. Not the only Ducati triumphs in this period, as in 2003 and 2004 British drivers Neil Hodgson and James Toseland brought the Italian team back to the top step of the podium. Carlos Checa's success in 2011 allows Ducati to count 14 Superbike World Championships: the other teams are all behind.
MotoGP victories
If the World Superbike has always been a conquering ground for the Ducati, the MotoGP class sees the "reds" of Borgo Panigale have important successes but arrived less frequently. Present at the World Championship since 2003, the Ducati has in Loris Capirossi a rider certainly of value but not able to stop the overwhelming power of Valentino Rossi. The turning point, however, came in 2007, when Casey Stoner arrived in Ducati . After the surprising triumph of Nicky Hayden the previous year, arrived at the last grand prix, the Australian rider gives Ducati the first Moto GP World Championship with a screaming season: 10 races won, 125 points ahead of Daniel Pedrosa and 126 on Valentino Rossi. Stoner tries to do an encore the following year, but has to raise the white flag against the "46" of Tavullia.
The following years had a strong Spanish accent, with Jorge Lorenzo and Marc Marquez winning the World Championships from the 2012 edition to the 2019 edition. For Ducati it is certainly not a brilliant period, but it still manages to re-emerge in recent seasons. The 2020 and 2021 editions of the MotoGP World Championship coincide with as many constructors' titles for the Italian team. In the last World Championship the drivers' title could even arrive, with Francesco Bagnaia giving life to a duel to the death with the French Fabio Quartararo. Despite the four first places in the last six races of the World Championship, in the end Quartararo prevailed with his Yamaha thanks to the important advantage accumulated previously (with seven podiums, arriving four times in first place and three times in third, in the first ten grands prix).
2022, however, was the year of consecration of the Italian driver. Pecco Bagnaia, with 4 victories in the sprint race on Saturday and 7 victories in the GPs on Sunday, was the author of a spectacular comeback against his direct competitor, Fabio Quartararo, thus winning his first world title in the MotoGP class, the third of his career.
2023 opens with a double success for the Turin driver in the Portimao GP. The experts are aiming for a consecutive world championship encore, like Rossi and Marquez, but this year there will be strong competition from the other Ducati riders, in particular Martin and Bezzecchi
