DUCATI ARE SO strong that it is hard to see anyone overcoming the Italian factory's dominance in 2024, especially since their eight-rider line-up will be stronger than ever, thanks to Marc Márquez's arrival at Gresini Ducati.
Aprilia, Honda, KTM, and Yamaha will do their best to catch up, but when you examine last season's statistics, it is a huge mountain to climb.
In 2023, Ducati won the riders' and constructors' titles for the second year running, with a level of technical dominance not seen since Honda's RC211V in 2002 and 2003: Desmosedici GP23s and GP22s won both the sprint and Grand Prix races at 14 of the 20 rounds, monopolised the GP podium at nine rounds, and scored 96 per cent of available constructors' points.
However, rights-holder Dorna has written new concession regulations to help Ducati's rivals close the gap, especially Honda and Yamaha, which Dorna feared losing from the championship.
The new system allows KTM and Aprilia more testing and wild cards, while Honda and Yamaha get extra benefits. They can test more and with their full-time riders at any circuit, plus they get two aero updates per season and 10 engines, of any spec. By contrast, Ducati get 35 per cent fewer test tyres, they can only use test-riders for testing, they can only test at three circuits, they get no wild cards, only one aero update, and eight engines, all of the same specification.
Aprilia
‘Our bike is not so far from perfection'
Two GP wins, third in constructors' championship
APRILIA'S CHIEF Engineer Romano Albesiano believes the RSGP is getting closer to being a title challenger, having won two GPs in 2023.
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Tussle for Supremacy
Having watched the racing action from afar during the first two rounds of the Honda Idemitsu Talent Cup (HITC), we got a chance to take a closer look at the proceedings in round three. Here is how the weekend zoomed past
Multiple Winners
The third round of the TVS One-make Championship saw the emergence of multiple winners as the favourites struggled to do the double-race win
The Title Fight Becomes More Intense
The weekend at Mandalika turned out to be a spectacular display where the title contenders, Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia, locked horns while Marc Márquez's and Enea Bastianini's chances at the title diminished
Andrea lannone is a WSBK Winner
Nicolo Bulega, Andrea Iannone, and Alvaro Bautista headlined the weekend for their respective Ducati teams as they blew past the competition on their Ducati Panigale V4 R motorcycles
Italian Domination
The weekend at Cremona saw the Italian, Danilo Petrucci, dominate his home race astride his Ducati
Bastianini Shines in Final-lap Thriller
Just like the previous race at Misano, this one also served up a thriller but for very different reasons. Here is how it unfolded
No Dearth of Drama
Marc Márquez had to wait for 1,043 days for his 60th MotoGP race victory, but his 61st race win only took another seven days
Kolli Hills on an NX 500
We rode from Bengaluru to Kolli Hills astride a Honda NX500 and it was a memorable ride for many reasons
For the Easy Life
Triumph India believe there is a market for a friendlier version of the Speed 400. Here is what you should know about that version, called the Speed T4
The Star Reborn
We finally got our hands on the new BSA Gold Star 650 and took it for a long spin. Here is our first impression
