Gigi Dall’Igna’s settled account

In the World Championship paddock there is unanimity when it comes to identifying the Ducati Desmosedici as the most competitive motorcycle in the category. A credit attributed to Gigi dall’Igna, the charismatic engineer in charge of Reparto Corse at the Borgo Panigale factory. Dall’Igna is a compulsive winner, for better and for worse. Winning is his ‘leitmotif’, or reason for being, to work tirelessly; Indirect winning is not acceptable in any case.

With the title captured by Pecco Bagnaia in Valencia, Dall’Igna closed his ‘Pending Accounts’ book. After seeing his bikes win the 125cc, 250cc and Superbike categories, closing the circle by crowning himself in MotoGP became his obsession. Because of that he convinced Audi -owner of Ducati- to pay a huge sum to sign Jorge Lorenzo.

The result was not as expected. A failure that led to a major reduction in the game for pilots. An unexpected step forward from Andrea Dovizioso led Ducati to finish three consecutive seasons second in the championship behind the best Marc Márquez. But for Dall’Igna to be second is defeat.

Following a pure engineering approach, he began to manage the situation by applying a maxim as simple as: ‘if I don’t have the best rider, I have to make up for it by building the best bike’. And this approach brings us back to the phrase with which we opened this article.

The first stage to develop the MotoGP reference bike was to give its engine bodybuilder muscle, designing the most powerful engine in the category. Once achieved, he continued with the second phase, lightening the bike to leave it at the minimum weight.

“It’s a trajectory that started in 2015. There has never been a great revolution,” explains Dall’Igna, who does not believe in miraculous solutions but in method and, above all, proper work. “We are correcting the small things that are not important, but are aligned one after the other… This is my philosophy: devote the same attention to every detail to have a perfect mosaic”.

The long-awaited title finally arrived in 2022, but already in 2017, in the Lorenzo/Dovizioso era, Dall’Igna’s Ducati was an extremely competitive bike. When asked if he could have won the World Cup then, the Italian engineer’s response was surprising.

“Nonsense. The pilot is the most important factor. This season, Bagnaia has led 189 laps, against Quartararo’s 76 laps. The other Ducati riders, less. This is a sign of his value as a driver .”

Bagnaia’s title settles a pending account with Casa Ducati. After the only MotoGP World Champion diploma to appear in Ducati showcases, won by Casey Stoner in 2007, Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso punctured in an attempt to win the second. Finally, in a lesser-known pilot, they found the ‘ideal’ pilot they were so desperately looking for. But then again, Dall’Igna doesn’t share the ‘feelings’. For him everything makes sense.

“There is no ‘ideal’ rider for Ducati. My goal has always been to make a complete bike that can be ridden by riders of different characteristics. And this season it has been seen. ”.

In addition to the drivers’ title won with Bagnaia, this season Ducati won the constructors’ title and the best team title. They’ve won 14 of the last 22 races, … I mean, they’ve blown it.

“I don’t think we hit the ceiling. With eight riders on the track, next year we can continue to develop. But the effort we need to make to provide the service so that everyone is competitive, as it has been this, is unbelievable”.

This good work has a B side, because Ducati has become a pond where all other brands go fishing for engineers. The diaspora of technicians trained in Borgo Panigale’s Reparto Corse is huge and continues to grow. The last ‘desertion’ came from Alberto Giribuola, who had three runner-up finishes in the MotoGP world along with Andrea Dovizioso, and Christian Pupulin, Jack Miller’s track engineer. The first will dress as an Aprilia in 2023, the second will accompany the Italian rider to KTM, where, by the way, Dall’Igna’s former right-hand man, Fabiano Starlachini, is at the helm of the Motogp project of Austrian factory.

“We agree to pay this price,” Gigi explained. “Since my arrival, I have followed the policy of sharing all information with everyone from Reparto Corse. That our best engineers are leaving us? Let’s train others. This is the philosophy of our project: bet on young people and make them champions, whether they are drivers or engineers”.