MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks

It may be December, the darkest month, but the MotoGP news rumbles on. Here's a quick round up of the latest things that caught my eye.

MotoGP back to Brazil?

Leading Brazilian website Grandepremio.br is reporting that Dorna will sign an agreement on December 12th with the government of the Goiás region to host a round of MotoGP from 2026. The deal will see MotoGP race at the Autódromo Internacional de Goiânia Ayrton Senna, 160 km southwest of the Brazilian capital Brasília.

According to Grandepremio, a memorandum of understanding was signed between Dorna and members of the Brazilian government  after they had attended the Dutch TT in Assen back in June.

The Goiânia circuit hosted grand prix racing for three years, from 1987-1989, races won by Wayne Gardner, Eddie Lawson, and Kevin Schwantz respectively. MotoGP has been back to Brazil once at the Interlagos circuit near São Paulo, and nine times between 1995 and 2004 at Jacarepaguá. There have been multiple attempts to return - in 2014 to the Autódromo Internacional Nelson Piquet in Brasília, and again in 2022 to Rio de Janeiro - but those have never materialized.

Whether this race will happen is also open to question. The circuit still has to be homologated by the FIM, and will need upgrades to be made safe enough. But having a MotoGP round in South America is very important for both Dorna and the motorcycle manufacturers, given the size of the regional market. 

Adding Brazil would compensate for the loss of the Argentina GP at Termas de Rio Hondo. The loss of Argentina was a sensitive blow, both to Dorna's ambitions in the region and to its status as a truly global championship. Although the race is scheduled to be held from 14-16 March next year, it is widely expected the race will be canceled, as it was this year.

Is Suzuki set to make a return to MotoGP?

Anyone familiar with Betteridge's law of headlines will know that the answer to this question is no. But in a recent interview by Italian website Inmoto.it with Toshihiro Suzuki, president of Suzuki Motor, the Japanese manufacturer's top executive left the door very slightly open to a return to the series which they abandoned at the end of 2022.

Suzuki-san is quoted as telling Inmoto.it, "Winning in MotoGP was very important for us, but it doesn't make much sense if we don't have a complete and varied range of models to offer all motorcyclists. And I don't think we are in this situation at the moment."

When they did have a full range of bikes, then things might be different, he said.  "Then, if everything goes well, we will return to racing and we will come back to win."

On the one hand, that sounds like a commitment to racing. But given the vary formal, polite, and cautious way in which Japanese CEOs tend to express themselves, it can also be taken as a very polite way of saying no. Suzuki is a very long way from having a full range of motorcycles to suit every kind of riding, especially in the supersport segment. So a return to MotoGP seems a very long way off.

Jorge Martin, the mind of a champion

I am still working on a piece dissecting Jorge Martin's remarkable 2024 MotoGP campaign, which is a genuinely impressive achievement. In the meantime, I would point you toward this excellent interview with Motorsport.com's Oriol Puigdemont in which Martin opens up about what he changed for 2024, and how that helped him win.  

It is a cliche that the most important six inches in racing are the ones between the rider's ears. In the interview, Martin expands on this, explaining how and what he changed this year, and why that made the difference for him. Martin has the strength of mind of a champion.

Alpine Prima Pramac

Oriol Puigdemont also has the scoop that French sportscar maker Alpine, of the eponymous F1 team, is to share the title sponsorship of the Pramac Yamaha squad with Italian insurer Prima for the 2025 season. The deal, described as "long term", will see Alpine feature prominently on the Yamaha M1s Pramac is to race from next year.

It is not the first deal which Pramac boss Paolo Campinoti has secured based on his strong connections to the F1 paddock. Campinoti has had the F1 logo on the tail of his bikes in 2021 in a tie up agreed with F1 boss Stefano Domenicali. The Alpine deal comes about as a result of his friendship with Renault CEO Luca de Meo. Alpine is a subsidiary of French car maker Renault.

Renault is also one of the few European car makers faring relatively well at the moment. Where Audi, VW, and Mercedes are all facing declining sales, and in the case of VW, plant closures and laying off workers, Renault's sales are holding up better than the rest of the market. 

Ducati celebrates in Bologna

On Tuesday night, Ducati celebrated the incredible success of its 2024 motorcycle racing program at the Bologna Fair. The Italian factory issued the following press release after the evening's celebration, and a video recap of the event.

Ducati celebrates an extraordinary 2024 racing season with the “Campioni in Festa” event

• Thousands of enthusiasts at Bologna Fiere to celebrate Ducati's successes in MotoGP, WorldSBK, WorldSSP and Motocross
• A special evening got underway with a Ducati Band concert, followed by a comedy show and the appearance on stage by all the protagonists of the 2024 season
• The highlight of the show featured the “Fantastic Four” Ducati riders who dominated the MotoGP Championship: World Champion Jorge Martín, with Francesco Bagnaia, Marc Márquez ed Enea Bastianini

Bologna, 4 December 2024 – Tuesday 3 December was a memorable evening for the thousands of enthusiasts who gathered in Hall 29 of Bologna Fiere for the 2024 edition of “Campioni in Festa”: an event that for three seasons now has become a fixture of Ducati's best sporting moment ever.

"Campioni in Festa" is a unique event, which was created with the aim of sharing the passion for this fantastic sport with the territory, the fans, the Ducati Official Club enthusiasts and, more generally, with all motorcycling lovers. An opportunity that Ducati seizes from a privileged position, being able to count on a combination of technicians and riders with few equals in the world of motorsport: the show's programme this year saw 14 top level riders and over 20 World Titles take to the stage.

The celebratory event, free for the public, was preceded by an exclusive party for Ducati employees only, an opportunity to share and celebrate together a year of great results. The public segment of the show event got underway with a concert by the Ducati Band, a musical group formed over 20 years ago in the Company on the initiative of some employees including the current Technical Director of Ducati Corse Davide Barana in the role of guitarist, who warmed up the atmosphere with a performance full of rock & roll energy. Afterwards, the Italian comedian Paolo Cevoli provided moments of light-heartedness and laughter with his show, engaging the audience with his unmistakable style.

The evening was hosted by Barbara Pedrotti, who dictated the pace of the show, calling onto the stage all the main protagonists of the 2024 season, starting obviously with the CEO of Ducati, Claudio Domenicali , who underlined once again during his speech the effectiveness of the "Ducati System", a special way of doing things characteristic of the Bologna-based Company, which has proven to be successful both in racing and in series production.

The first “Campione in Festa” to take to the stage was Alessandro Lupino, winner of the Italian MX1 Title aboard the Desmo450 MX prototype, which made its debut this season kicking off Ducati’s new chapter in Motocross. Lupino was accompanied on stage by nine-time MX World Champion Tony Cairoli, Ducati Corse Off-Road Technical Director Davide Perni and Ducati Corse Off-Road General Manager Paolo Ciabatti . Ciabatti’s speech represented the moment of transition between satisfaction for the results achieved in the first season and a look to the future and the challenges of the 2025 MX World Championship, which will also be faced thanks to the talent of the new riders Jeremy Seewer and Mattia Guadagnini, presented to the Ducati family on this occasion.

The spotlight then shifted to Ducati’s successes in the World Championships for production-derived motorcycles: WorldSBK and WorldSSP. On stage were SBK Project Management Responsible Marco Zambenedetti, along with Daniele Casolari (Team Owner Aruba.it Racing Ducati), Serafino Foti (Team Manager Aruba.it Racing Ducati) and above all the riders Álvaro Bautista, Nicolò Bulega and Adrián Huertas . Bulega and Bautista, who finished second and third respectively in the WorldSBK general classification, were cheered by the crowd, as well as the new WorldSSP Champion Huertas, who had the opportunity to thank everyone for the support received throughout the entire season to reach the final goal of victory.

The section dedicated to MotoGP opened with an invitation onto the stage for Nadia Padovani (Team Principal Gresini Racing), Alessio Salucci (Team Principal VR46 Racing Team), and the riders Marco Bezzecchi, Fabio Di Giannantonio and Michele Pirro (Ducati Official Test Rider). Immediately afterwards, the top management of Ducati Corse Mauro Grassilli, Davide Barana and Davide Tardozzi gathered in front of the audience, with Barbara Pedrotti who invited the Ducati Corse General Manager Luigi Dall’Igna to join them for a speech which included an emotional mutual thanks with Paolo Campinoti, Team Principal of Pramac Racing, with whom a twenty-year working relationship will end at the end of the year, culminating with the victory of the 2023 World Teams’ Title and the 2024 World Riders’ Title.

Finally, the highlight of the show arrived with the “Fantastic Four” Ducati riders, dominators of the MotoGP World Championship with 19 wins out of 20 total races, which ignited the enthusiasm of the crowd. The reigning World Champion Jorge Martín, Italian idol Francesco “Pecco” Bagnaia with Marc Márquez and Enea Bastianini threw themselves into the mix, exchanging questions and points of view with each other, and receiving the warm tribute of the public for a season in which they took the Desmosedici GP to an unimaginable level.

The evening ended with a massive collective applause, symbol of the pride and passion that unite the Ducatista community. The 2024 edition of “Campioni in Festa” once again celebrated the excellence and the aggregator spirit of Ducati, confirming itself to be an unmissable event for all motorsport enthusiasts.

Also taking part in the celebration of this extraordinary racing season was LEGO®, with which Ducati recently presented the new Lego® Technic™ Panigale V4 S set. For the occasion, LEGO® exhibited a 1:2 scale model of the Panigale V4S made entirely of bricks, unveiled shortly before the show by the “Fantastic Four”. In addition, all the party participants were able to contribute to the creation of a shared work, reconstructing the logo of the Borgo Panigale company with LEGO® bricks.

The “Campioni in Festa” event, of which a video-recap is available on YouTube, was organized by Ducati with the support of the Municipality of Bologna and the collaboration of Motor Valley and BolognaFiere.