[kropotkin thinks...] - Subscriber Interview: Ducati Corse Boss Gigi Dall'Igna On The

[Ninjette Newsbot]

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At the launch of Ducati's MotoGP effort in Bologna last week, there was much talk of the riders, and of sponsors, but relatively little talk of the bike. Exactly what the Ducati Desmosedici GP18 will look like, and what has changed, was not immediately clear from the presentation.

But after the presentation was finished, I, along with MCN reporter Simon Patterson, managed to get a few minutes with Ducati Corse boss Gigi Dall'Igna, the man leading the technical team building the bike. We seized the opportunity to go into the few snippets revealed during the presentation in more depth.

In our conversation, we covered quite a lot of ground. We had the chance to ask Dall'Igna about the upgrades Ducati hopes to bring for 2018, and when they hope to have them. We asked about aerodynamics, and how the new rules have increased costs for the factory. We talked about the necessity of Ducati's Moto3 project, and when it might become reality. And we got to ask Dall'Igna about the steel trellis frame used by KTM, and whether he believes the Austrian factory will decided to drop the chassis concept, as Ducati did in the past.

Our first question was about horsepower. During the presentation, Dall'Igna had revealed that Ducati engineers had found "a couple more horsepower." On a bike that is already the most powerful on the grid, that didn't seem like the biggest priorty.

Q: Why did you look for more power? It's already very fast?