Dall’Igna: When you win all the time, you become unpopular with rivals

Jorge Martin’s 2024 title on a satellite Ducati and the record-breaking achievements of the Italian manufacturer in the last three years – with 55 wins in 78 races – underline the role of Gigi Dall’Igna, the architect of its historical supremacy.

The final result of the 2024 season validated Martín’s campaign as more consistent than that of Francesco Bagnaia, even though the Spaniard scored only three Sunday wins – eight fewer than his rival.

The Italian’s 11 grand prix victories give him a winning rate of 50% in a season that featured 20 rounds after multiple cancellations. The races won by both Martin and Bagnaia, added to the tallies of Marc Marquez (3) and Enea Bastianini (2), give Ducati a total of 19 victories in 2024.

A clean sweep for red bikes was only prevented by Maverick Vinales’s triumph in Austin for Aprilia. The Spaniard inadvertently led the Bologna factory to take inspiration from Porsche’s campaign in 1983, when it placed nine cars inside the top 10 at the Le Mans 24 Hours.

Along with the 19 grand prix victories, Ducati also achieved a total of 53 podiums in 2024, 10 more than the previous year. But if there is one statistic that best represents the dominance of the Borgo Panigale manufacturer, it is that it locked out the podium on 14 occasions, setting a new record. Furthermore, Ducati has had at least one rider on the podium in the latest 66 races, and at least one bike on the front row in the last 80 rounds.

Based on these numbers, Ducati riders arguably deserve the greatest recognition for their performance over the last few years. But another person key to this success is Gigi Dall’Igna, the architect of the modern-day Desmosedici. Under his baton, the Italian marque has achieved a level that its rivals cannot reach, and all signs indicate that this trend will continue for quite a few years… but Dall’Igna has no interest in crushing Ducati’s rivals.

“The important thing is to win, not to sweep. When you sweep, you become unpopular. In fact, I think that the other brands see me like that, and that makes me feel bad,” Dall’Igna said in an exclusive interview with Motorsport.com.

“I work to continue winning, although it may happen that sometimes we exaggerate a little and find ourselves in a situation like the current one. But my objective is not to surpass the previous year each year; but to win, ‘simply’.”

Since his arrival in 2014 from the Piaggio Group, Dall’Igna has kept growing at the same speed as his legacy. After two years of adaptation, in which none of his bikes achieved a single victory, the first success finally came in 2016. However, it took time for Ducati to fully reap what the Italian engineer had sown and it wasn’t until 2021 that the brand’s commitment to the competition became evident.

Since then, each season has surpassed the previous one in terms of victories and podiums. In the same way, it must also be taken into account that no brand has had so many bikes on the grid (eight) in 2024, although that number will drop down to six next year.

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team, Enea Bastianini, Ducati Team, Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

In the 11 years with Dall’Igna at the helm, Ducati has accumulated 75 victories and 229 podiums. That is higher than the 64 wins of Honda, which was associated with Marc Marquez until last year, or the 44 of Yamaha, which enjoyed considerable success with a number of star riders.

In terms of podiums, the difference is even greater if we consider that second-placed Yamaha has scored 154 podiums, 75 fewer than Ducati.