MotoGP: Ducati General Manager Dall'Igna Highlights 'Strategic Error’ Made by Honda and Yamaha

Gigi Dall'Igna, General Manager of Ducati Corse, thinks Honda and Yamaha committed a “strategic blunder” by tailoring their MotoGP bike development to world champions Marc Marquez and Fabio Quartararo. Dall'Igna is known for questioning even the slowest Desmosedici rider for input and suggestions, and Ducati has eight motorcycles on the grid, double the number of Honda and four times that of Yamaha. Although it didn't happen quickly, Italian manufacturer Ducati has surpassed Honda and Yamaha, two Japanese powerhouses who dominated MotoGP from 2011 to 2015, in terms of race victories. Ducati won the rider’s, team’s, and constructor's championships hat trick last year and has now won 11 of the 14 races thus far this season, including the new sprints. KTM has two victories to Honda's one. Yamaha's Quartararo, who is in eighth position in the points standings, has a personal high of third place. In the constructors' championship, Honda sits in fourth place, one place ahead of Yamaha, but still behind European manufacturers Ducati, KTM, and Aprilia.

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MotoGP: What did Gigi Dall’Igna say?

Dall'Igna claimed in an interview with an Italian media outlet that Honda and Yamaha made a strategic error by focusing on their star riders, tailoring improvements of their motorcycles to the capabilities and opinion of a single rider. He continued by saying that what the best riders, the champions, say isn't always accurate since their skill masks the bike's flaws.

Francesco Bagnaia, Jorge Martin, Marco Bezzecchi, and Johann Zarco, all riding for Ducati, enter this weekend's Assen round as the clear leaders in the 2023 championship hunt. Dall'Igna stated that team instructions would only come into play if one of our riders was in a championship match against an opponent riding for another brand. If things stay the same, though, at season's conclusion Dall'Igna promised that all of the Ducati riders would be free to do as they pleased.

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MotoGP Dutch GP: Assen GP

After an excellent showing last week at the Sachsenring, Jorge Martin has put the reigning MotoGP champion Francesco Bagnaia to the test. Even though Martin of Pramac Racing has cut the margin to just 16 points, Bagnaia of Factory Ducati is still in the lead. This weekend in Assen, Mooney VR46 driver Marco Bezzecchi will attempt to reenter championship contention with a great performance. Marc Marquez, a Honda rider who fractured his finger in the German Grand Prix, intends to compete in the Assen MotoGP despite the injury. 

The eighth and penultimate round of the 2023 MotoGP World Championship, before the summer break, will take held this coming weekend in Assen. This classic course is 4.542km long and has 18 turns. To keep the tyres from wearing down too quickly, riders need to be at their best while using the brakes. There are plenty of great observation locations around the course, so the event is certain to be impressive.

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