MotoGP money no problem for Ducati.

Federico Minoli, Ducati Motor Holding and Ducati Corse chairman, has explained how the Bologna based company is able to afford the massive budget required to run a competitive MotoGP team - capable of challenging the likes of Japanese giants Honda and Yamaha.

Minoli's was asked to address fears that MotoGP would drain Ducati's resources during a Q&A session with the international media, at which Crash.net was present, arranged shortly after the 2004 spec Desmosedici had been unveiled to the public.

"I'll give you some data: the overall cost of all our racing activities is about 32-34 million Euros a year," stated the Italian (pictured). "This is offset by sponsorship, the sale of material and equipment, the sale of technology and the sale of licensing agreements which we have with several companies.

"So the net cost is way less than (32-34 million) - it's a single digit number - which is compatible with the cash flow that we generate as a company."

Despite this, Minoli admitted that the costs of racing are rising significantly - but maintained that Ducati are able to absorb the increase within their long term spending plans.

"The cost is going to increase - in fact it increased this year versus last year by about 10%," Minoli explained. "(But) the offsetting part will also increase and of course the company will grow and contribute more to that while maintaining the percentage of the sales contributed pretty much about the same.

"It's all part of continuing to spend and grow, remaining within the ability of the company to finance the racing," he concluded.

Austrian marque KTM has scrapped plans to enter MotoGP in 2005 after deciding they couldn't afford the huge budget now necessary to be competitive.