2022 Ducati MotoGP recap: Thanks to data, a return to glory

The Ducati Lenovo Team’s 2022 season saw the squad coming into their own as they finished more than 100 points ahead of their closest rival in the Team World Championship title race. It all culminated with rider Francesco “Pecco” Bagnaia taking home the Riders' title.

The season was a story of incredible resilience, as Bagnaia overcame a 91-point deficit in the MotoGP World Championship, coming on strong in the second half of the season and being crowned champion. Overall, Ducati 2022 season was its best year since 2007 in the MotoGP premier class, as it completed the year with almost double the points of its nearest competitor. This impressive score resulted in the manufacturer securing its third-consecutive MotoGP Constructors’ World Title.

The power of data and NetApp's support have helped make these incredible comebacks possible. NetApp® data management solutions have continuously helped the team keep its racing operations humming. 

What makes data so important? MotoGP bikes average more than 100 mph on the track, so a mere fraction of a second can mean the difference between first and second place. In a very real sense, data can decide the winner. Although the rider on the bike is the most visible performer, none of what they achieve would be possible without the support of the pit crews and engineers. And each of those team members is enabled by data to make the best possible decisions in support of the rider. Staying ahead of the competition takes fearless riding, exceptional engineering, and deep crew talent—all of which depend on data.

Here are the highlights of 2022…

If you thought that you were seeing a lot of Ducati Lenovo Team red at the head of the pack and on the podium in 2022, you were right. With their sights set on victory, Bagnaia and teammate Jack Miller competed in 20 Grand Prix starts. Bagnaia finished with a remarkable seven wins, one second place, and two third places. That’s 10 total trips to the podium, but he gave himself a head start, beginning five races from pole position. Meanwhile, Miller, who finished fifth in the standings, started from pole once and secured seven podiums—including one win, two second places, and four third-place finishes.

In the time that NetApp has partnered with Ducati, the team has achieved huge performance strides. Much of that success is attributable to access to near-real-time data on rider and bike performance, driven by NetApp AFF A-Series systems and NetApp ONTAP® data management software. All this innovation is in addition to the numerous collaborative NetApp and Ducati engineering projects, such as motorcycle-racing and aerodynamic simulations, proactive maintenance solutions, and a bike data feedback loop.

With NetApp and the Ducati Lenovo Team having achieved so much together since our initial partnership announcement back in 2018, we’re not slowing down any time soon. As the collaboration continues into the 2023 season, the team is working hard to take race outcomes to the next level. We’re optimizing data to give the team an advantage both on and off the track in the highly competitive world of MotoGP racing.

The 2023 MotoGP season will present many new challenges. After their 2022 title wins, the Ducati Lenovo Team will definitely be in the sights of their rivals. During the course of the 21-race season, new tests will be rolled out, including the radical introduction of sprint races at every event and new races in Kazakhstan and India. The sprint races in particular mean more data deployment and analysis because the sprints are essentially a second, half-distance race that’s tacked on at every event.

With the start of the 2023 season comes another change for the Ducati Lenovo Team as they bid farewell to Jack Miller and welcome the incoming rider Enea Bastianini. Nicknamed “La Bestia” (The Beast), the Italian rider joins the team after a standout sophomore season, taking four race victories as part of the Gresini Racing MotoGP team.

We’ll be following the action closely, and we’ll continue to help the Ducati Lenovo Team make the most of its data. See you on the podium!

Ready to help your organization pull ahead of the competition? Read more about how our data-driven partnership helps the Ducati Lenovo Team win.