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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Denne historien er fra February 2024-utgaven av Bike India.
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Bagnaia Wins the Battle; Martin Wins the War
Despite Bagnaia's best efforts, Martin hung on to third place on Sunday to seal the deal and take home the champion's trophy at the conclusion of a long 2024 season
Navaneeth and Yogesh Crowned Champions
Dynamic weather around Coimbatore was the perfect backdrop to end the 2024 JK Tyre Royal Enfield Continental GT Cup season in fine style.
DRIFTASTIC
TVS have modified a bunch of Ronin motorcycles for flat-track racing. They invited us over to spend an afternoon learning how to turn right to go left
Quarter Mile of Thrills
The Valley Run 2024 Winter Edition was a weekend of high-octane speeds, a celebration of bike culture as well as an event that witnessed records being shattered by an unlikely competitor
Pure Community
Motoverse is the easiest way of understanding Royal Enfield's diversity
Revolt Against City Traffic
As a commuter motorcycle, the Revolt RV1+ brings a lot in its package at a competitive price. We hopped on this electric motorcycle to check its practicality around the city
Vibe Check
With the launch of the Goan Classic 350, Royal Enfield have wrapped up the year of the Classic well
Tiny Yet Mighty
Enter the BMW CE 02, a 15-hp e-scooter that looks more like a design project dreamt up by a skateboarding intern than a production two-wheeler, but in terms of youth appeal and, yes, that X-factor, it is taking no prisoners
Ducati Revamp Powerful Multistrada 14 S
At face value, it appears Ducati have only mildly tweaked the Multistrada V4 S for 2025, which is why we arrived in Perugia, Italy, a few hours north of Rome, expecting a couple of easy days on the classy adventure-tourer. However, it quickly became apparent that despite only mildly updating the Multi's familiar looks, beneath the bodywork lies a vast number of updates that Ducati hope will make the bestselling Multi (and best-selling Ducati globally) even more versatile than before
This Bear is Royal and Friendly
The first ride of the Royal Enfield Bear 650, spanning eight hours, was held in California. Here is our first impression
