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Category: Ducati
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Highly anticipated 899 Panigale unveiled by Ducati CEO, Claudio Domenicali, at VW Group Night on the eve of the IAA Motor Show in Frankfurt
•The stunning “Supermid”model offers a new way to access the world of Ducati Superbikes
•899 Panigale continues monocoque concept, Superquadro engine and benchmark electronics
Borgo Panigale (Bologna, Italy), 09 September 2013 – The highly-anticipated Ducati 899 Panigale has been unveiled at the VW Group Night in Frankfurt, Germany, on the eve of the IAA International Motor Show, which runs from the 12-22 September. The presentation made by Ducati CEO, Claudio Domenicali, represents a preview of the Italian Manufacturer’s exciting 2014 model range.
The stunning model, intended to provide a new way to access the exclusive world of Ducati Superbikes, is described as a “Supermid” version of the award-winning 1199 Panigale, designed to provide the thrill of the new generation flagship model with the refined character of an everyday streetbike.
Its brand new Superquadro engine features a revised bore and stroke for a broad power delivery, producing 148hp (109kW) with a torque of 73lb-ft (10.1kgm). The super-smooth power unit continues to be a fully stressed member of the innovative Panigale monocoque construction, achieving both an outstanding power-to-weight ratio and ride-enhancing agility with a dry weight of 169kg (372.5lb). An 1199 silhouette underlines the family DNA, while the Ducati Quick Shift (DQS) and the fully integrated Riding Mode technologies of Ride-by-Wire, triple stage ABS, Ducati Traction Control (DTC) and Engine Brake Control (EBC) continue the benchmark ingenuity introduced with the new generation Superbike.
Ducati now offers all-round performance for connoisseurs with an authentic and stylish way to enter the world of high performance. The 899 Panigale will be priced at £12,495 and available in the UK from November onwards, in traditional Ducati red with black wheels or a stunning arctic white with red wheels.
Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A – An Audi Group Company
Founded in 1926, Ducati has been producing sport-inspired motorcycles since 1946. Their motorcycles are characterised by “Desmodromic” performance engines, innovative design and avant-garde technology. Covering several market segments, Ducati's range of motorcycles are divided into model families which include: Diavel, Hypermotard, Monster, Multistrada, Streetfighter and Superbike.
These authentic icons of 'made in Italy' are sold in over 80 countries around the world, with concentration on the European, North-American and Asia Pacific markets. Ducati competes in both the World Superbike Championship and, with an official team, the World MotoGP Championship. In Superbike Ducati has won 17 Manufacturers' titles and 14 Riders' titles and in 2011 passed the historic milestone of 300 race victories. Ducati have participated in MotoGP since 2003, and took both the Manufacturers' and Riders' titles in 2007.
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Rapido Sport left Cadwell Park ruing crashes in both the Superbike and Superstock classes while Ducati Manchester’s Robbie Brown has season’s best result.
Matteo Baiocco suffered a crash in Superbike qualifying which left his 1199 Panigale languishing in 21st place on the grid for race one. It was a bitter pill to swallow for the Italian who was racing at the Lincolnshire circuit for the first time. Baiocco had struggled in the last few races with his pace in the early part of races and was hoping to be further forward on the grid on this unfamiliar track. Despite his best efforts Baiocco only managed to finish in 18th position at the end of the first contest.
In race two, starting from 18th on the grid, Baiocco again struggled off the line, pushing him back into 21st on lap one, however Baiocco improved as the race went on, fighting back to 15th and into the points.
Steve Moore, team principal, Rapido Sport Racing said: “At the moment the first third of the race is killing us and to be on the back row was always going to be difficult for a good result. We really struggled with set up and tried the set-up from last year but this just didn’t suit Matteo. Matteo liked the track but having never raced here before it was going to be tough for him. We can now put two of the most difficult tracks on the calendar, Oulton and Cadwell behind us and look forward to progressing at Donington.”
In Superstock 1000 Tristan Palmer was looking forward to continue his good form and move up from third in the Championship. Palmer starting from fifth on the grid has his customarily good start quickly taking the lead from Jenkinson on the first lap. Palmer immediately tried to make a break for it, opening up a second gap on Jenkinson and Aquino.
Aquino was proving to be the fastest man on track and quickly reeled in Palmer, passing him into Coppice on lap five. Palmer soon had Simon Andrews on his tail as Aquino opened a 2.5 second gap. On lap nine, Andrews made an aggressive move on Palmer coming out of Coppice into Charlies forcing him wide. With nowhere to go, Palmer crashed out practically ending any championship hopes. On lap 11 the race was red flagged and with two thirds race distance covered the race result declared. Simon Andrews was later excluded from the race after his part in Tristan Palmer’s crash.
In contrast to Palmer’s woes, Robbie Brown on the Ducati Manchester 1199 Panigale finished a brilliant 12th position after starting the race back in 21st. For the first time in 2013 the Biddiluph-based rider really found his groove, and is hoping to press on to more strong results in the remaining rounds.
Tristan Palmer, Rapid Sport Racing said: “I was just gutted after the race, I knew Tommy (Aquino) had gone, I just couldn’t live with him as his pace was really good, but I thought I could settle for second or third. Jenkinson was having a poor race and Hudson (Kennaugh) was out so I knew I could have got some good points. I will just put it behind me now and go to Donington and win.”
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The British Superbike Championship headed back to Cheshire this weekend for an action-packed triple-header at the second Oulton Park round of the season. Ducati enjoyed another excellent weekend, with some superb racing in the TriOptions 848 Challenge, progress in the main BSB class and a second victory of the season for Tristan Palmer in National Superstock 1000.
Palmer continued his run of excellent form and proved beyond all doubt that the Panigale in the right hands is a formidable machine in the class. He blitzed the rest of the field on his Rapido Sport Racing machine in qualifying to go fastest on a 1:38.317s despite losing some valuable track time earlier in the day to a wheel-speed sensor failure. From pole Palmer made a clean getaway and held the lead in the all-important opening laps. He was unable to break away at the front, but controlled the pace brilliantly to hold off the attentions of Adam Jenkinson and Tommy Aquino by just 0.2s over the line after 14 laps. Tristan now moves into fifth in the championship standings – an amazing feat given that he has only contested half of the rounds so far this season.
Matteo Baiocco has been consistently faster in every session this weekend in the main BSB class. Progressing through to the second part of qualifying yesterday he could only manage 18th on the grid for race one which was staged late on in the afternoon. He made steady progress on the 1199 Panigale RS to finish three places ahead of where he started and in the points in 15th. With more track time came more confidence for the reigning Italian Superbike champion, and in race two he was able to battle his way through from 17th on the grid to cross the line 13th and well inside the points. Starting the final contest again from 17th, Matteo made up a place early on but couldn’t quite make it into the points, crossing the line 16th despite once again making progress in terms of lap time.
Dennis Hobbs celebrated a double win coming out on top in two thrilling TriOptions 848 Challenge races. In race one Hobbs took the honours ahead of Leon Morris and Marty Nutt following an exciting six-way scrap. In race two Hobbs was embroiled in a battle with Ben Field who was to push Hobbs all the way before crashing out on the final lap, leaving Morris and Nutt to again finish 2nd and 3rd respectively.
Tristan Palmer said:
“It was the perfect weekend to take pole and the race win. The Ducati worked great for the whole race, I lost a bit of grip near the end but I knew the guys were following me so I made it difficult for them by riding nice tight lines and not giving them any space to get past. I was trying to gap them for the first half of the race but realised it wasn’t happening, so I knew it would go right to the end. I didn’t want to let them past, and instead I stayed consistent and made them to all the work.”
Matteo Baiocco, Rapido Sport Racing Ducati said:
“My start was not so bad, but I lost places in the first two corners, I tried different lines but it was difficult, I have not been fast in these moments of the race, every time I start behind it is difficult especially at this track it is hard to overtake, but lap times were OK, I just need to start better in the first two corners. The bike was better than the first race (race 2), but the position was not so good, this race was better because we finish much closer to the top riders. I am happy because the bike is better but the positions were not, I tried my best and now we look forward to Cadwell.”
Steve Moore, team principal, Rapido Sport Racing said:
“The lap times are good now, much better than last year, but there is too much work starting from 17th on the grid. We are struggling with a lack of testing time at each circuit, we are still making changes between qualifying one and two and then testing again in warm up, if we qualified again at the end of the today we would be just outside the top ten. After the safety car went in in race three, Matteo was in 19th but lapping the same pace as the guys in sixth and seventh, so we know the pace is there. Points in two of the three races is not too bad.”
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Ducati has reached an agreement with Cal Crutchlow that will have the Briton campaigning the 2014 and 2015 MotoGP race seasons with the Ducati Team.
Crutchlow will race alongside Andrea Dovizioso. The British rider and the Italian, who were team-mates in 2012, will work on developing the Desmosedici and growing Ducati’s MotoGP project.
The 2009 World Supersport champion and 2011 MotoGP Rookie of the Year, Crutchlow is presently enjoying his strongest GP season to date, sitting fifth in the championship points standings. He has posted four podium finishes in the first nine races, and he earned his first MotoGP pole position at the Dutch TT.
The end of the 2013 season will also mark the completion of Nicky Hayden’s five-year professional relationship with the Ducati Team. Ducati would like to thank Nicky for his contributions during that time, and everyone on the team and at Ducati Corse looks forward to giving him and Andrea their full support over the second half of the 2013 season.
Cal Crutchlow
Race number: 35
Age: 27 (born in Coventry, UK, on 29 October 1985)
Height: 1.68 metres (5’6”)
Weight: 66.68 kg (147 lbs.)
GP starts: 43 (all in MotoGP class)
First GP: Qatar GP, 2011 (MotoGP)
GP podiums: 6 (all in MotoGP class)
First GP Pole: Dutch TT, 2013 (MotoGP)
World SBK starts: 30
World SBK wins: 3
World SBK podiums: 11
World SBK poles: 6
World Supersport starts: 17
World Supersport titles: 1
World Supersport wins: 5
World Supersport podiums: 10
World Supersport poles: 10
Notable Achievements:
• 2011: MotoGP Rookie of the Year (Tech3 Yamaha)
• 2009: Supersport World Champion (Yamaha)
• 2006: British Supersport Champion
• 2001: Aprilia RS 125 Challenge Champion
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Ducati teams make further strides in both British Superbike and National Superstock 1000 classes
Ducati enjoyed its strongest weekend’s racing for some time at Snetterton Circuit in Norfolk (5-7 July). Tristan Palmer had yet another fantastic race in the National Superstock 1000 class for Rapido Sport Racing, while the team’s rider in the main British Superbike class Matteo Baiocco scored the a best ever result by breaking into the top ten.
Coming off the back of a good weekend at Knockhill the team had the top ten in its sights, but with the ultra-competitive nature of the series, nothing is ever certain. The Italian made a good start in race one and jumped two spots from thirteenth on the grid to 11th at the end of the first lap, finding himself in a fierce mid-field battle that stretched from eighth back to 14th.
A safety car period followed, and Matteo managed to move up to ninth at half race distance before dropping back a couple of spots to eleventh. It looked like the Factory Ducati World Superbike test rider would just miss out on that elusive maiden top ten, but a fall from one of the front runners on the penultimate lap bumped the sole BSB Ducati back into the top ten to score the best ever finish for the Rapido Sport Racing team.
Another strong performance in race two for Italian rider and bike saw the Rapido Sport Racing team once again knocking on the door of the top ten. By lap 11 of 16 the Italian had taken tenth and was lapping slightly faster than the riders ahead. By lap 14 he was up to ninth, but a resurgent James Ellison just edged him back to tenth for a repeat result of race one over the line. Both rider and team were delighted with the double top-ten, and are confident that the performance can be repeated for the rest of the season.
Things would get even better for the Italian marque as the day went on, with Tristan Palmer starting from second place on the grid for the weekend’s only National Superstock 1000 race. A superb launch saw the rider from Nuneaton rocket into first place into the first corner. He was pushed back into second on lap two, but after a brief safety lap period took the lead back on lap nine.
A mistake on the same lap saw Palmer drop back to third, and despite his best efforts, didn’t have enough grip left to challenge in the last few laps. A scary moment at Montreal on the final lap saw Palmer run very wide, but he managed to pull the 1199 Panigale up just in time to maintain fourth place across the line.
Signs were also positive from Robbie Brown in the Superstock class. The DMC Racing rider had been struggling all weekend, but a change to the traction control gave him the smooth power delivery he’s been searching for all season. The 24-year-old had moved forward from 29th on the grid to 18th before a burst water pipe forced him out of the race on lap 11.
The Ducati TriOptions 848 Challenge made a welcome return to the support bill this weekend, and provided even more exciting racing for Ducati fans. In race one, Jonathan Railton’s unbroken winning spree was brought to an end with a superb lights to flag victory for Marty Nutt on the number 77 machine.
Race two saw a fantastic race-long battle between Nutt and Railton, with Nutt muscling past the current championship leader and defending strongly for the majority of the race. On the penultimate lap, however, there was nothing the Northern Irishman could do to hold off Railton’s charge, and at Agositini corner the number 40 machine took the lead. Railton pulled out a gap of almost half a second over the line, and made it five wins from six races so far in 2013.
Matteo Baiocco said:
“I’m happy for the position because we brought some good points home. We are much closer to the factory riders than at the other races so this weekend had been good. We stopped the improvements with the bike after qualifying. We might have been able to do some more with the setting but we were scoring our best results so it wasn’t worth risking it. The races felt long – I forgot about the sun, the last time I was here the track temperature was two degrees so it was very different. In the end, to get this result without coming to test here, which a lot of the other teams did, looks good for the rest of the races.”
The teams return to action at Brands Hatch for round 6 of the British Superbike Championship 19-21 July.
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