Desmo450 MX races in Dutch MXGP
Ducati made its debut in the MXGP World Championship in Holland with Tony Cairoli. The 9-time World Champion, who had been missing from the GPs for 3 years, finished in Saturday's Qualifying Race with a convincing 7th position after being 4th for a long time, confirming the performances of the Desmo450 MX.
In the 1st race on Sunday, Tony was unable to get away well at the start and finished the race in 15th position. In Race 2, Cairoli, who climbed up to 9th position by setting excellent lap times, was forced to retire due to a technical problem during the 6th lap.
“We bring home an excellent test for the bike. Before the GP we did 3 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 7th 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 and so I'm satisfied. After 3 years away from the GPs it was definitely not an easy race for me, especially on a difficult track like this,” said Ducati rider Antonio Cairoli.
Participation in the Dutch GP is part of the development plan for the Desmo450 MX, the bike that will take part in next year’s MXGP World Championship and go into production, marking the Borgo Panigale company’s entry into the off-road specialist segment.
The Arnhem race allowed Ducati engineers to collect other valuable data on difficult sand like the Dutch one to support the development of the Desmo450 MX. In addition, in Holland, the Borgo Panigale bike competed in 2025 configuration as regards the phonometric 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 program 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, where Alessandro Lupino leads the general classification with two rounds to go after the brilliant results obtained in the last round of the Italian MX Championship at Ponte a Egola.
