This year, Ducati began its motocross project, aiming to compete in world championships by 2025. This past weekend, they secured their first overall victory in the Italian championship – the Italian Prestige in MX1.
At the Ponte a Egola round, Tony Cairoli returned to competition after nearly two years. In the first race, rain made the track very challenging – with several bikes stalling and some crashes. Experienced, the Italian from Ducati overtook his teammate Alessandro Lupino 16 minutes from the end.
Cairoli made a mistake near the end, allowing Lupino to regain the lead, but a red flag due to track conditions led the race direction to consider the order of passage when the riders last crossed the finish line before the interruption. Thus, Cairoli won ahead of Lupino.
In the second race, the scenario was reversed. The two Ducati riders were clearly superior to the competition. Lupino led for most of the race, but Cairoli managed to attack him less than five minutes from the end.
However, Lupino responded and ultimately managed to secure the victory ahead of #222. Thus, Ducati secured its first overall victory in a motocross round, with a one-two finish in the overall classification and each race. Additionally, Lupino now leads the Italian championship.