Ducati appoints Gigi Dall'Igna as General Manager
Gigi Dall'Igna has been confirmed as the new General Manager of Ducati Corse, effective from the end of the 2013 MotoGP World Championship season.
The 47-year-old joins the manufacturer from Italian counterparts Aprilia and will acquire the role currently assumed by Berhard Gobmeier, who was installed as Ducati general manager in the wake of the marque's takeover by Audi last year.
Dall'Igna comes to Ducati having accrued substantial experience at both MotoGP and World Superbike level, most notably his part in spearheading Aprilia's World Superbike riders and manufacturers' titles in 2010 and 2012.
A move intended to bring Ducati up to speed with its rivals in both MotoGP and the World Superbike Championship, Ducati Motor Holding CEO Claudio Domenicali is confident that Dall'Igna has the credentials to return the iconic manufacturer to the forefront of motorsport again.
"Thanks to this appointment, we can look forward to the next racing season with renewed motivation" he said. "We are confident that the new Ducati Corse organisation, and a strategy even more focussed on technical development, will help us achieve our targets, ensuring that Ducati once again becomes a key player both in MotoGP and Superbike.
"I would like to personally thank Bernhard for his work during these past ten months, and wish Gigi a warm welcome. I am certain that his solid experience combined with our technology and R&D and the technical support supplied by the Audi/VW Group, will help us restore Ducati to the level of racing excellence it had in the very recent past."
Effective from 11th November 2013, Dall'Igna's first responsibility will be to oversee Cal Crutchlow's much anticipated move into the factory Ducati team alongside Andrea Dovizioso.
Speaking at Sepang on Thursday, just before the official announcement of Dall'Inga's move, Crutchlow said:
"In Ducati they need some direction and if [Dall'Igna] is the guy then I think it could be a good move from Ducati. He obviously does a very good job because his Superbike is as good as a MotoGP bike because what Aspar has is the same as Laverty and Guintoli are running. So maybe he could be a very good option.
"I knew a long time ago that a lot of stuff that was going to happen but a lot is still to be announced so I don't think it's finished just with this. I put my trust in them and they know what they need to do. Claudio [Domenicali] is a good guy and I think he understands the way that the project needs to go but it's not going to happen overnight.
"Just because they hire some guys doesn't mean that they'll go to the first race fully prepared. It took Aprilia a little while when they came into Superbikes so it won't happen overnight but it's a step in the right direction for sure."
Crutchlow's 2014 team-mate Andrea Dovizioso, nearing the end of a tough first season at Ducati, stated:
"I didn't talk to him and I've never worked with him. I was always at the competitor, Honda, when he was at Aprilia so I never worked with him. I think that he will prove to be a good engineer because his results with Aprilia in World Superbikes, 250, 125s have been good. But in WSBK and CRTs the results have been important especially with the budget that he has had. It's not the budget of Yamaha, Honda or Ducati so it will be interesting to see him with a bigger budget.
"I think that it's important to change something inside [Ducati] and this will be good."
Paolo Ciabatti, who has been the MotoGP Project Manager since January, is confirmed as continuing in his role and will report directly to the new Ducati Corse General Manager, as will 39-year-old Engineer Ernesto Marinelli, Ducati Superbike Project Manager for the past two seasons.
Gobmeier, meanwhile, will assume a new role within the Volkswagen Motorsport department
