Ducati is thrilled to announce the start of
its electric era: starting from the 2023 season it will be the only official supplier
of motorcycles for the FIM Enel MotoE™ World Cup, the electric class of the
MotoGP™ World Championship.
The agreement signed with Dorna Sports,
organiser and promoter of the most important international two-wheel
competitions, lasts until 2026 and will, therefore, cover four editions of the
MotoE World Cup.
This is a historic step for the Borgo
Panigale motorcycle manufacturer, which, following its custom of using
competitions as a laboratory for technologies and solutions that then become a
reality for all motorcyclists, enters the world of electric starting from the
more sporty environment, the one of the electric class of the MotoGP World
Championship.
The goal is to develop skills and
technologies in a constantly evolving world, such as the electric one, through
an experience familiar to the company, which is that of competitions. A
consolidated tradition for the Borgo Panigale company, as already demonstrated
with the introduction of the Ducati 851: the motorcycle that inaugurated the
tradition of Ducati road sports bikes by overturning the concept with its
innovative two-cylinder water-cooled engine, electronic fuel injection and the
new four-valve DOHC, born on the basis of the competition Ducati 748 IE that
made its debut in endurance races at Le Castellet in 1986.
Since then, this continuous transfer of
skills has taken place consistently from the Superbike World Championships,
where Ducati participated since the first edition in 1988, to the MotoGP, in
which Ducati is the only non-Japanese motorcycle manufacturer to have won a
World Championship.
A clear transfer also in the most recent
and prestigious products of the Borgo Panigale motorcycle company: the V4
engine of the Panigale is, in fact, strictly derived in its entire construction
philosophy, from the bore and stroke measurements to the counter-rotating
crankshaft, up to the engine that made its debut on the Desmosedici GP in 2015.
The V4 Granturismo that equips the new Multistrada V4 was then derived from the
Panigale engine. All vehicle control software is also directly derived from
those developed in the racing world. Not to mention the development of
aerodynamics.
The technological solutions developed in
the world of racing, transferred to the products that make up the range, have
allowed Ducati to offer its enthusiasts motorcycles, which have an extremely
high performance and, more importantly, are fun-to-ride. The MotoE World Cup
will also be no exception in this regard and will allow the company to develop
the best technologies and test methodologies applied to sporty, lightweight and
high-performance electric motorcycles.
At the same time, Ducati's membership of
the Volkswagen Group, which has made electric mobility an essential element of
its "New Auto" 2030 strategy, represents the best prerequisite for an
extraordinary exchange of expertise in the field of electric powertrains.
The announcement of the agreement was made
during a joint press conference in the press room of the 'Marco Simoncelli'
Misano World Circuit on the eve of the "Made in Italy and
Emilia-Romagna" MotoGP Grand Prix, the third to last stage of the 2021
MotoGP Championship, in the presence of Carmelo Ezpeleta, CEO of Dorna Sports,
and Claudio Domenicali, CEO of Ducati Motor Holding.
Claudio Domenicali, CEO of Ducati Motor
Holding stated: "We are very proud of this agreement because, like all the
first times, it represents a historic moment for our company. Ducati is always
projected to the future and every time it enters a new world it does so to
create the most performing product possible. This agreement comes at the right
time for Ducati, which has been studying the situation of electric powertrains
for years, because it will allow us to experiment in a controlled and known
field, such as that of competitions. We will work to make electric motorcycles,
which are highly performing and are characterised by their lightness, available
to all FIM Enel MotoE World Cup participants. And it is precisely on weight, a
fundamental element of sports bikes, that the greatest challenge will be
played. Lightness has always been in the Ducati DNA and thanks to the
technology and chemistry of the rapidly-evolving batteries we are convinced
that we can achieve an excellent result. We experiment with our innovations and
our futuristic technological solutions on circuits all over the world and then
make exciting and desirable products available to Ducati enthusiasts. I am
convinced that this time too we will treasure the experiences we have had in
the world of competitions to transfer them and apply them also on production
bikes".
Carmelo Ezpeleta, CEO of Dorna Sports,
said: "We are very proud to
announce that Ducati will be the new sole manufacturer for the FIM Enel MotoE
World Cup. With their incredible history in the racing world, it is a real
honour to welcome this commitment from one of the paddock's best-known
manufacturers and take on this new challenge together. We are eager to see what
the future holds and continue to watch this technology develop and grow, with
the MotoGP paddock and MotoE continuing to drive innovation and evolution in
the motorcycling industry - while creating a incredible show on the
track."
This first step by Ducati in the world of
electric will also have an influence on the evolution of the range. At the moment,
the most important challenges in this field remain related to the size, weight,
autonomy of the batteries and availability of the charging networks. Ducati's
experience in the FIM Enel MotoE World Cup will be a fundamental support for
the product R&D, together with the physiological evolution of the
technology and chemistry. The goal is to study how to produce, as soon as
technology allows us, a Ducati electric vehicle that is sporty, light,
thrilling and able to satisfy all enthusiasts.
A new chapter of the FIM Enel MotoE Word
Cup is closer than ever.
And also that of Ducati.
During 2022, various events and moments of
sharing will allow all fans to discover the development of the project step by
step.
