Ducati clarifies Desmosedici allocation for 2015

Ducati has clarified the technical status of the six riders it will supply Desmosedici machinery to in the 2015 MotoGP world championship.

The Bologna factory will support a third team next year after clinching a deal with the Spanish-based Avintia squad.

Ducati boss Gigi Dall’Igna outlined to MCN the various different technical specifications that will be provided next season, with confirmation that only official factory duo Andrea Dovizioso and Andrea Iannone will start the season on the radical new GP15.

The satellite Pramac squad will run one GP14.2 machine for Colombian Yonny Hernandez, which Dall’Igna rolled out for Dovizioso and Iannone at Motorland Aragon in late September.

And Pramac will also run one GP14.1, which was an updated version of the Desmosedici that Dovizioso was racing up to the Misano round, for Italian Danilo Petrucci.

Both Pramac bikes will use Ducati’s factory software, while Avintia will run two GP14.1 bikes that will run the controlled Open class electronics supplied by Dorna and Magneti Marelli.

Hector Barbera and ex-125GP world champion Mike di Meglio will remain with Avintia.
Dall’Igna also explained more about the recent introduction of the GP14.2, which he said was not an upgraded based purely on performance gains.

The former Aprilia boss said: “The GP14.2 was born not due to the performance of the engine but it was only to reduce the dimensions of the engine so we can redesign the chassis and some components around the engine and to do the bike smaller than the GP14 or GP14.1.  The cylinder head and everything around the cylinder head has been modified.”

Dovizioso and Iannone will debut the new GP15 at the first official test of 2015 at the Sepang track in Malaysia on February 4.