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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Esta historia es de la edición February 2024 de Bike India.
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BMW F 450 GS Concept
EICMA 2024 IS GENERALLY NIRVANA FOR MOTORCYCLE ENTHUSIASTS as they're treated to plenty of new machines from a number of manufacturers. BMW Motorrad are one of them.
Toprak is the 2024 World Champion
Toprak Razgatlioglu took home his second World Superbike Championship (WSBK) title after a good battle with the Italian rookie, Nicolo Bulega of Ducati.
A Toprak Sandwich
The battle for the title heated up as Toprak Razgatlioglu won Race One and Race Two while Nicolo Bulega won the Superpole Race in Estoril, the penultimate round of the 2024 World Superbike Championship (WSBK) season.
Navaneeth Wins Double
Navaneeth Kumar S, Rohan R, and Yogesh P were the winners in the second round of the J K Tyre Royal Enfield Continental GT Cup INDIAN RACING
Ross Branch and Team Hero MotoSports are the new FIM World Rally-raid Champions
TEAM HERO MOTOSPORTS was founded in 2016 and Ross Branch joined in 2022. Since then, he has been a Hero MotoSports rider and their years of toil have borne a particularly sweet fruit: Ross Branch and Hero MotoSports are now the FIM World Rally-raid Champions.
The Rise of a New 'Rad'
Reise Moto invited us to the COASTT High Performance Centre in Coimbatore to experience their all-new radial road tyres, the traceRads.
Feels Like Graduation
The third and final round of the TVS Young Media Racer Programme (YMRP) saw us take P2 in the race and P3 in the overall championship. Here is how it went off
In the Shadow of the Colossus
TVS have given the base Jupiter a complete overhaul, including a new engine. We had checked it out on a closed course back in August. This time we let it loose on the urban jungle and observed if it could survive there
Pay Win
THE ATHER RIZTA WAS LAUNCHED TO much fanfare in April this year and then we got to sample it for a short burst in May.
Agile and Aggressive
The Kawasaki KLX 230 is a superbly built dual-sport that has the ability to take on some big hitters in our market. We hopped on it for a while and kicked up some dirt at the Prodirt Adventure Park.