Ducati made its debut in the MXGP World Championship in Holland with the Ducati Desmo450 MX and Tony Cairoli. The nine-time World Champion, who had been missing from the GPs for three years, finished in Saturday’s Qualifying Race with a convincing seventh position after being fourth for a long time, confirming the performances of the Ducati Desmo450 MX.
In the first Race on Sunday, Tony was unable to get away well at the start and finished the race in fifteenth position. In Race 2 Cairoli, who climbed up to ninth position by setting excellent lap times (author of the sixth absolute race laptime) was forced to retire due to a technical problem during the sixth lap.
Antonio Cairoli: “We bring home an excellent test for the bike. Before the GP we did three weeks of testing between Holland and Belgium but the conditions of today’s track were very far from those found in the various tests. Our goal was to test the Desmo450 MX in extreme conditions and I had very positive feelings. Yesterday, in the Qualifying Race, we got a very good seventh place, which is a fantastic result for such a young bike. On Sunday I didn’t get a good start in both heats, but in Race 2 I was in the top 10 and so I’m satisfied. After three years away from the GPs it was definitely not an easy race for me, especially on a difficult track like this”.
Participation in the Dutch GP is part of the development plan for the Desmo450 MX, the motorbike that will take part in next year’s MXGP World Championship and go into production, marking the Borgo Panigale company’s entry into the off-road specialist segment. The Arnhem race allowed Ducati engineers to collect other valuable data on difficult sand like the Dutch one to support the development of the Desmo450 MX. In addition, in Holland, the Borgo Panigale bike competed in 2025 configuration as regards the phonometric limit, an important test to confirm the technical choices in view of next season when the limit will go from 112 to 109 db.
The development programme of the Desmo450 MX will then continue August 31st and September 1st at Castiglione del Lago, in the fifth round of the Italian Championship, where Alessandro Lupino leads the general classification with two rounds to go after the brilliant results obtained in the last round of the Italian MX Championship at Ponte a Egola.
