DUCATI RACING HISTORY

Founded by brothers Adriano, Bruno and Marcello Cavalieri Ducati in July 1926, Ducati first made its name producing radio transmitters. By the start of World War Two the company had 7000 employees and had expanded its range of products to include electric razors, intercoms, calculating machines, cameras and movie cameras. In 1946 Ducati commenced manufacture of its first engine – the Cucciolo (Italian for ‘puppy’) four-stroke moped motor, used to power bicycles as Italy tried to get back on the road after the war.

1950
50cc Cucciolo establishes 12 world speed records.

1951
100cc Cucciolo establishes 24-hour speed and endurance records.

1954
Ducati’s most renowned engineer, Fabio Taglioni starts work with the factory.

1956
Taglioni-designed desmodromic 125 single wins non-championship Swedish GP with Gianni Degli Antoni. With the same bike, Sandro Artusi scores Ducati’s first World Championship points at Monza.

1958
First race win for Ducati (125cc class).
Ducati wins three 125 Grands Prix (with Alberto Gandossi and Bruno Spaggiari) in Belgium, Sweden and at Monza, and takes second place in the 125 riders’ and manufacturers’ World Championships. Spaggiari wins the Italian Seniors title with the 125 Desmo.

1960
Mike Hailwood scores Ducati’s first 250 World Championship points, riding an inline 250 desmo twin.

1965
Taglioni designs inline non-desmo four-cylinder 125, but the bike is never raced.

1971
Ducati’s first premier-class GP racer and first V-twin takes to the tracks. Briton Phil Read scores the desmo 500’s first World Championship points at Monza.

1972
Ducati scores its most famous early success when Paul Smart rides a GT750 desmo V-twin to victory in the Imola 200.

1973
Ducati 860 desmo V-twin wins the Barcelona 24 Hours with riders Benjamin Grau and Salvador Canellas.

1978
Former World Champion Mike Hailwood wins fairytale Isle of Man TT comeback aboard a 900SS F1 special, securing Ducati’s first World Championship crown. In the States, future World Champion Freddie Spencer rides a 900SS to third in the Daytona 200.

1981
Ducati scores the first of four successive Formula 2 World Championships, with Tony Rutter riding a 600cc Pantah TT2.

1987
Former 500 World Champion Marco Lucchinelli scores the first success of Ducati’s new era, riding the all-new eight-valve V-twin 851 to victory in the Daytona Battle of the Twins. This bike, with its engine created by Gianluigi Mengoli and Massimo Bordi, is the forerunner of the legendary 916.

1988
Lucchinelli and the 851 win the first round of the inaugural World Superbike Championship at Donington Park, finishing the season fifth overall.

1990
First World Title for Ducati in the Superbike class.
Raymond Roche, riding the Ducati 888, takes the first World Superbike title for Ducati.
American Doug Polen continues the factory’s domination of the series with victory in the ’91 and ’92 championships on the Ducati 888. The following year Polen scores Ducati’s first US AMA Superbike title success.

1994
Ducati unleash the 916 that wins the Superbike title at its first attempt, with Carl Fogarty on board. The Briton repeats the feat the following year, with Australian rider Troy Corser securing Ducati a title hat-trick in 1996.

1998
Fogarty takes his third Superbike title aboard the 996 and backs it up with a fourth in 1999. 1999 sees the creation of the Ducati Corse division that will manage all of Ducati’s racing activity.

2001
Australian Troy Bayliss secures the marque’s ninth World Superbike riders’ crown with the 996 Testastretta. In May Ducati announces its decision to participate in the new MotoGP World Championship.

2002
Bayliss leads the World Superbike Championship for most of the season, finishing the year a close second, before starting testing of the Desmosedici alongside new team-mate Loris Capirossi. The V4 makes its public debut at November’s season-ending Valencia MotoGP event, and breaks its first lap record the following month at Jerez, Spain during winter testing.

2003
First race win for Ducati in the MotoGP class.
Capirossi and Bayliss have a sensational debut season with the Desmosedici, the Italian finishing on the podium in the bike’s first race in Japan and following this up with an extraordinary win in the Catalunya GP. Ducati finish second overall in the manufacturers championship while Loris and Troy finish fourth and sixth respectively. Neil Hodgson dominates the World Superbike season with the all-new 999 to take the riders’ title and, together with Ruben Xaus, clinch Ducati’s twelfth manufacturers’ crown.

2004
24 year-old Briton James Toseland becomes the youngest ever World Superbike champion as he powers the 999 to its second successive title win. Team-mate Régis Laconi finishes runner-up to ensure Ducati’s thirteenth manufacturers’ title. Youngster Lorenzo Lanzi campaigns a 749 in Ducati’s return to World Supersport, finishing a creditable fifth overall. In MotoGP both Loris Capirossi and Troy Bayliss succeeded in finishing the season on a high note, a difficult season which saw both Ducati riders finish on the podium, thus demonstrating the worth of the Desmosedici MotoGP project.

2005
In MotoGP Loris Capirossi campaigned the Desmosedici for a third successive year, the Italian scoring two spectacular back-to-back wins in the latter half of the season at Motegi and Sepang. His team-mate, Spaniard Carlos Checa, also picked up two podiums towards the end of the year. James Toseland and Régis Laconi both won races in the World Superbike Championship, but were unable to challenge for the title, while a new star was born when Italian Lorenzo Lanzi took a third factory 999 bike to two wins in the final races of the season. Ducati Corse were also officially involved on a third front, the Italian manufacturer making a major effort to win the AMA Superbike title in America with Neil Hodgson and Eric Bostrom; there are race wins for both riders and Bostrom eventually finishes third overall.

2006
The end of the 990cc MotoGP era and an historic result for Ducati with a one-two finish for Troy Bayliss and Loris Capirossi in the season finale at Valencia. Capirossi again spearheaded the Ducati attack in one of the most exciting MotoGP championships in history. The Italian won three races and took five more podiums to finish the season third overall, his best season with the Italian manufacturer. It was a difficult year for team-mate Sete Gibernau, who sparked off a spectacular crash at the start of the GP Catalunya which conditioned his entire season. After three years in MotoGP, Troy Bayliss returned to World Superbike for Ducati Corse and capped a superb year by winning a second world title, five years on from his 2001 victory. The 37-year-old Australian then wrote another remarkable chapter in Ducati’s history when he won the final round of the MotoGP championship at Valencia after being called in to replace Gibernau.

2007
First World Title for Ducati in the MotoGP class.
In 2007 800cc machines made their debut in MotoGP, as does Capirossi’s new team-mate, Casey Stoner, who immediately rides the Desmosedici GP7 to victory, dominating the opening round of Qatar. After this impressive first win, the young Australian goes on to win a further nine races and four podiums, as well as five pole positions. On 23rd September 2007, in Japan, Capirossi won his first race of the season while Stoner completed the task in hand to secure the MotoGP world title, becoming, at 21 years old, the second youngest ever winner of the reigning class after American Freddie Spencer. Two weeks later the one-two finish for Stoner and Capirossi at Phillip Island secured the Manufacturers Title for Ducati and by the end of the season the Borgo-Panigale based squad also takes the Team Title. Ducati is the first non-Japanese manufacturer to win the MotoGP title since MV Agusta’s triumph in 1973. At the end of 2007 Casey Stoner is joined on the Ducati Marlboro Team by 25-year old Marco Melandri. The Ducati Xerox riders Troy Bayliss and Lorenzo Lanzi competed in the World Superbike championship to finish the season fourth and seventh respectively, with a string of wins and podium places for Bayliss. There was also victory for Ducati Xerox Junior Team rider Niccolò Canepa who with six podium finishes took the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup title.

2008
The second best ever season for Ducati in the MotoGP class, a year in which Casey Stoner finished second in the Riders classification and Ducati second in the Constructors classification, despite the difficulties experienced all season by the Australian rider’s team-mate Marco Melandri. Stoner opened the championship with a great victory at the first GP to be held at night in Qatar but then due to a series of problems he lost ground until the Ducati technicians found a new solution while working on the GP8 during the test that followed the Barcelona GP. Three consecutive wins followed, in the UK, the Netherlands and Germany, before two falls at Brno and Misano, as well as the reappearance of an old fracture to his left wrist, put an end to Casey’s chances of defending his title. The end of Casey’s season picked up with two podiums and two convincing victories, in Australia and at Valencia, which meant that he finished the 2008 season as vice-champion, with the highest points score in GP history, and Ducati as the manufacturer with the most wins in the 800cc class, with 17 victories in 36 races. The day after the Valencia GP, and immediately before undergoing surgery on his fractured scaphoid, Casey was on track for the first winter test session with his new team-mate, and 2006 World Champion, Nicky Hayden.

In his final year before retiring from the World Superbike scene, Troy Bayliss dominated the championship, powering his Ducati 1098 F08 to victory eleven times throughout the season, to claim his third world title, his second with the Ducati Xerox Team, and the fifteenth Superbike manufacturers title for Ducati since the championship began in 1988. Taking the title this year aboard the Ducati 1098 F08, a winning bike in its debut year, Bayliss has now won three world championships on three different evolutions of Ducati Superbike. During his Superbike career with Ducati, Bayliss has accumulated an awe-inspiring collection of 52 race wins, 94 podium finishes and 26 pole positions. He finishes his career with a record breaking success rate, having won 34.2% of the races he has participated in. Highlights of the 2008 season included double wins for the Australian legend at Phillip Island, at Assen, at Brno and again at the closing round in Portimao. Bayliss’ team-mate Michel Fabrizio closed the championship in eighth position, with a collection of seven podium finishes to his name. Ducati Xerox Junior Team rider Brendan Roberts took a win in the final round at Portimao, his third win of the season, to take the title in the Superstock 1000 Cup, the second consecutive title for the Ducati Xerox Junior Team in that category.