Ducati’s shock entry into the world of Motocross began to bear fruit as the Desmo450 MX made its competitive debut at the MXGP World Championship in Holland, in the hands of Tony Cairoli.
The nine-time world champion, who has been absent from the sport for three seasons, finished in Saturday’s qualifying race in seventh, after running fourth for much of the race.
Race One on Sunday didn’t go quite as well, with a botched start resulting in a 15th place finish but race two was better, Cairoli running in ninth before technical problems forced his retirement.
After the event had concluded, Antonio Cairoli said, “We bring home an excellent test for the bike. Before the GP we did three weeks of testing between Holland and Belgium but the conditions of today’s track were very far from those found in the various tests. Our goal was to test the Desmo450 MX in extreme conditions and I had very positive feelings. Yesterday, in the Qualifying Race, we got a very good seventh place, which is a fantastic result for such a young bike. On Sunday I didn’t get a good start in both heats, but in Race 2 I was in the top 10, so I’m satisfied. After three years away from the GPs it was definitely not an easy race for me, especially on a difficult track like this”.
Participation in the Dutch GP is part of the development plan for the Desmo450 MX, the motorbike that will take part in next year’s MXGP World Championship and go into full-scale production. The Dutch race allowed Ducati engineers to collect other valuable data on difficult sand to support the development of the Desmo450 MX. In addition, in Holland, the Borgo Panigale bike competed in 2025 configuration as regards the phonometric (noise) limit, an important test to confirm the technical choices in view of next season when the limit will go from 112 to 109 dB.
The development programme of the Desmo450 MX will then continue on August 31st and September 1st at Castiglione del Lago, in the fifth round of the Italian Championship.
