Ducati is slow to wake up and sees title dream becoming distant in 2022. But not impossible

Everything seemed ready for a year of Ducati domination, but as the popular saying goes, not all that glitters is gold. After closing 2021 with the Desmosedici labeled as the best bike on the grid, the Bologna-based company came into the season surrounded by good expectations, but discovered too late that it had in its hands a very slick GP22. Had Toto Wolff been the boss of the Reds, the prototype would probably have been called a 'diva' at the beginning of the year.

Somehow, the 'wizard' Gigi Dall'Igna got his hand wrong with the new bike, and the beginning of the year for the factory team - and also for Johann Zarco, Jorge Martin and Luca Marini, who rely on the GP22 - was much more turbulent. The results were slow to come. In the Qatar GP, the championship opener, the VR46 starter was the only rider of the year to score, but only three points.

WEB STORY
▶️ How does the MotoGP grid look for the 2023 season?

The first two Ducati wins of the year came at the hands of Gresini's Enea Bastianini, who is riding the GP21, last year's bike. The GP22 only made it to the top of the podium at the Spanish GP, sixth race of the season, when Francesco Bagnaia finally broke the drought. Before that, Zarco had achieved two podiums - third in Indonesia and second in Portugal - and Martin, one - second in Argentina - with the prototype of the year.

Despite its initial stumbles, Ducati had no problems in the Constructors' World Championship. With eight bikes on the 2022 grid, the house of Borgo Panigale was always among the highest scorers of the stages, which keeps it comfortably on top of the classification ranking.

That championship, however, is not what matters most. Ducati's pursuit is for the Riders' World Championship, a conquest that has not come since 2007, when Casey Stoner gave the brand the only title in history. Since then, the team now under the command of Claudio Domenicali has come close, but has never been able to repeat the feat.

Unlike what was expected, Bagnaia is not even the 'spearhead' of Ducati in 2022. Zarco left for the vacations with third place in the standings, with 114 points, 58 behind leader Fabio Quartararo, who is seeking his second MotoGP championship. Pecco is only fourth, eight points behind the Pramac rider.

The only one guaranteed a place in the official team next year - and with a contract until 2024 - Bagnaia had a tumultuous first part of the season, with four retirements, only one of which was caused by a rival: Takaaki Nakagami knocked the Torino rider out of the Catalunya GP in the first corner of the race.

The tumbles were decisive for this elastic delay in relation to the leader Quartararo, but Pecco has already shown that he has found the performance on the Desmosedici. At times we lacked patience, focus, concentration. But when all that was there, Bagnaia showed himself more than capable of doing the job.

With nine races still to go, there are 225 points in contention. In other words, it is perfectly possible to close the gap on Fabio. But Bagnaia will have to use the Frenchman's medicine: 'El Diablo' doesn't even have the best bike on the grid - and he knows it ~and complains~ about it-, but he was intelligent throughout the championship. He played tactically and was always among the protagonists. He scored as many points as he could, whenever he could.

Quartararo built his World Championship lead on regularity and never let any opportunity pass him by. When he could win, he went there and climbed to the top of the podium. If he wants to turn the game in Ducati's favor, that is exactly what Bagnaia will have to do. Time he still has.

MotoGP is now on vacation and will only resume on August 7 with the British GP at Silverstone.GRANDE PRÊMIO is following all the activities of the 2022 MotoGP World Championship.