Ducati’s Dominance: Unraveling the ‘Difficult to Expect’ Weekend Gains in MotoGP 2024

Ducati's MotoGP weekend progress comes as a surprise

"The extent of Ducati's team improvement from Saturday to Sunday is evident."

Maverick Vinales of Aprilia remarks that the improvements in lap times that Ducati achieves from Saturday to Sunday during MotoGP race weekends are "hard to predict."

Ducati has completely dominated the 2024 MotoGP season up to this point. Its racers have clinched victory in all but one of the 16 grand prix events held, including the Japanese GP.

The team secured the constructors' championship title during the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix and is now assured of winning a third consecutive riders' title in 2024.

Ducati's advancements with its GP24 model caught many off guard, largely due to the bike's ability to effectively harness the traction provided by Michelin's latest rear tires.

As of now in 2024, Vinales stands alone as the sole rider to have surpassed a Ducati on a Sunday, achieving this feat with his victory at the Americas GP in April.

In the beginning, Aprilia frequently posed a strong challenge to Ducati for podium finishes. However, this competition has diminished over time, leaving only Tech3 GASGAS newcomer Pedro Acosta as a recent contender capable of matching the Desmosedici's performance.

When questioned about Ducati's ability to make significant progress over a race weekend, Vinales shared with journalists at the Indonesian Grand Prix: "It's always an intriguing question, as we observe just how much the Ducati team can enhance their performance from Saturday to Sunday."

"It's hard to predict, as on many tracks, if you look at Friday's performance, you might see yourself in contention to win the race."

"However, come Saturday, they manage to be 0.3 seconds quicker. This makes it challenging to determine whether it's due to a technical aspect or if the bike is consistently strong across all tracks."

"It's accurate to say that, at the beginning of the season, Pedro and I appeared to be strong contenders against the Ducatis, but now our performance has become inconsistent."

"They manage to maintain a high level of consistency. We all wonder how they achieve such consistent performance across different tracks."

No matter if the conditions are wet, dry, or somewhere in between, they are consistently quick.

"We must truly grasp the situation, and I believe everyone in the paddock is questioning how they manage to maintain such speed regardless of the conditions."

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