Gigi Dall'Igna and Ducati's 100 MotoGP victories: a wizard like Adrian Newey in F1

Gigi Dall'Igna has reached 100. Marc Marquez’s win at Motegi, ahead of Jorge Martin and Marco Bezzecchi, gave Ducati its 100th victory in MotoGP since the Veneto-born engineer took charge of the project at the end of 2013. A milestone that captures the rebirth of a Red that was in deep crisis at the time and now dominates the scene.

The 100 victories have come in the last 203 premier-class races, all under his leadership. Dall'Igna himself, at the end of the race, admitted he didn’t even realize he had reached that number. When wins are counted in the hundreds, it’s easy to lose track.

No later than a week ago, Gigi was in Cremona to celebrate the World Superbike title won by Nicolò Bulega with two rounds to spare. The cherry on top was also the Constructors’ title, a foregone result considering Ducati thrashed the field with the Panigale V4 R. Marc Marquez’s tenth World Championship would complete an extraordinary 2026. But six battles remain against Aprilia to achieve that goal as well.

In motorsport there’s only one figure who measures up in terms of trophy haul: Adrian Newey, the brilliant aerodynamicist who designed some of the most successful F1 cars in history. In the biography published in Italy by CDM Edizioni (the publisher of Corsedimoto), Newey recounts the 26 World titles (14 drivers and 12 constructors) he won designing for Williams, McLaren, and Red Bull, driven by legends like Nigel Mansell and, most recently, Max Verstappen. But Gigi Dall'Igna has done even more: at Aprilia he won World Championships in rapid succession in three different categories: 125 and 250cc two-strokes, in addition to the world crowns celebrated in Superbike with Max Biaggi’s RSV4.

With the Borgo Panigale brand, the engineering director of Ducati Corse has already signed off on ten MotoGP World Championships: six Constructors’ and four Riders’, the latest with Marc Marquez last year. In Superbike the tally stands at eight: five Constructors’ and three Riders’, two with Alvaro Bautista (2022–23) and one a week ago with Nicolo Bulega.

The first memory that comes to the general manager of Ducati Corse is the one that opened the way: Andrea Iannone’s win in Austria in 2016. "Surely the first victory with Iannone in Austria was the most important one, the best memory," he recounted.

Yet the Desmosedici he’s most attached to isn’t the one from that Austrian success, but the one from the year before. "Honestly, the 2015 Ducati was the most important because with that bike we made a real step forward, and it wasn’t easy. At that time there was a lot of pressure. So I think that bike has remained in my heart more than all the others." With a clarification: the bike from the first riders’ title also holds a special place.

In these years the premier class has changed radically, and Ducati has often led the way with aerodynamics and ride-height devices. "I think that in the last ten years the bikes have changed more than in all the other years. It’s been an important evolution that we pushed for and we’re really happy about it", Dall'Igna explained, who kept it short regarding his role as an innovator: "It’s our job. I think we’ve done it in the best way possible."

The real asset, according to the engineer, is the knowledge accumulated. "We’ve grown step by step; it’s been an important journey to get here," he emphasized, adding that this very wealth of know-how allows them to look to the future positively even when the regulations change.

The next testing ground is the new MotoGP with 850cc bikes. On the concessions, which have helped Aprilia close the gap, Dall'Igna prefers not to go too far: "Everything has an impact, but I don’t want to talk too much about the concessions." Eyes are already on next month’s Valencia tests.