Ducati’s Desmo450 impresses in race debut

Ducati’s all-new Desmo450 motocross bike has taken pole position and a race victory in the opening round of the Italian Motocross Championship. In a debut described as “truly a dream”, eight-time Italian champ Alessandro Lupino not only topped the timesheets in free practice and qualifying, but lead the opening moto from start to finish to score a fairytale victory for the Ducati Corse R&D Factory MX squad over Honda’s Guiseppe Tropepe.

The second moto didn’t go as well for the Italian after a mistake at the start left him mired in the pack. Lupino crossed the line in seventh place, which was enough to earn him second overall for the round, a result which Ducati’s CEO Claudio Domenicali said will be fundamental in the continued development of the bike before it’s introduced to the firm’s line-up for the 2025 model year.

“We immediately demonstrated outstanding performance,” he said. “Best time in free practice, pole and victory in the first heat are truly a debut that lives up to expectations: we have gathered a lot of information.”

The second moto was won by Yamaha’s Isak Gifting, whose sixth-place finish in the opening moto was enough to earn him the overall round win, 10 points clear of Lupino. Tropepe completed the overall podium with a 2-5 scorecard.

“Unfortunately, the second heat didn’t go as I would have liked: I got the start wrong and wasn’t able to recover,” Lupino said. “But that’s okay, now the engineers have the data to analyse two completely different situations.”

The news comes one week after Danish rider Mikkel Haarup achieved a 5-2 finish for Triumph’s TF 250-X’s maiden MX2 outing in the world championship.

The next round of the Italian Motocross Championship will take place over April 27 to 28, 2024.