Ducati Unveils New Desmo450 MX Motocross Bike
Ryan Nitzen | January 22, 2024
Ducati Corse Off-Road, the Ducati division in charge of “knobby-tire racing activity”, unveiled the prototype of their new motocross bike, the Desmo450 MX. Both machines were revealed alongside the brand’s MotoGP machines in Madonna di Campiglio during the Campioni in Pista (Champions on the Track) event.
Ducati’s all-new “Desmo450 MX” motocross bike.
Ducati’s two test riders, Antonio Cairoli and Alessandro Lupino, pulled the covers on the Desmo450 MX which will be raced by the Ducati duo later this year in the Italian Pro Motocross Championship in the MX1 division. The goal for the Ducati Corse R&D Factory MX Team’s first season, managed by Corrado and Marco Maddii, first season of racing is to “mainly acquire data and information in racing” in order to contribute to the development of the Desmo450 MX which will go into production in the second half of 2025.
Antonio Cairoli and Alessandro Lupino will race the bike later this year at the Italian Motocross Championship.
The race debut of the Ducati Desmo450 MX is planned for March 16 and 17 in Mantua for the first round of the Italian Motocross Championship.
“It is a great pleasure to inaugurate another Ducati racing season in Madonna di Campiglio, a location that perfectly expresses the values of ‘Made in Italy’”, said Claudio Domenicali, the CEO of Ducati Motor Holding.
The Desmo450 won’t go into production until the second half of 2025.
“The path that has led us to be the best in the world in racing is undoubtedly made up of the hard daily work of these years, but also of our ability to work as a team and have fun while putting our maximum effort into what we do,” Domenicali continued. “One of the strong elements of our brand is the ability to create a system and today we demonstrate this by jointly presenting the official teams for the 2024 racing season: the Ducati Lenovo Team, the Aruba.it – Racing Ducati Team and the novelty represented by the Ducati Corse R&D – Factory MX Team. Seeing the three bikes next to each other was a great emotion for me because, although different from each other, they are part of a single project. This belonging is underlined by the basic colour of the liveries, Ducati Red, the same for all, and also by a completely new graphic sign that recalls the curve present in the Ducati logo, inspired by the most exciting part of riding a motorbike: the bend. At the same time, these bikes are also an expression of the path that Ducati has taken in recent years, investing in its future. The entry into motocross is in fact the clear example that our will to improve and our desire to win have no limits. In these two days we will have the opportunity to give ourselves the right energy for a season that promises to be full of challenges, in which we will try to confirm our leadership in the main track racing world championships and demonstrate our capabilities in a new terrain such as specialist off-road. Challenges have always encouraged us to bring out the best and we feel absolutely ready.”
