Ducati are having a busy year focusing on developing their 450cc Desmo ahead of entering the MXGP World Championship for the 2025 season in what will be the brands first season competing at the highest level.
This year Antonio Cairoli and Alessandro Lupino have been working hard developing the bike and the latter is racing the MX1 Italian championship in order to get information during race situations.
For the 2025 season, Ducati are expected to sign up two MXGP riders to debut the new bike and we understand that Mattia Guadagnini is at the top of their wish list. The Italian rider moved up to the MXGP World Championship in 2022 and since then has been adapting to the 450cc. Injury setbacks haven’t been kind to him but there’s no doubt he has a lot of potential for the future.
As we previously reported, Husqvarna aren’t thought to be running a Grand Prix team in 2025 and Guadagnini was on a one year deal so it means he is available. At the moment, nothing is signed just yet but it is expected that Ducati will make a push to sign up Guadagnini for 2025.
The Maddii Racing team who are involved in the Ducati project know Guadagnini very well as he won the 125cc Junior world title and the EMX125 championship with the team in 2019 when they ran Husqvarna machinery. Guadagnini also challenged for the EMX250 title before Thibault Benistant lifted the title that went all the way. There is no doubt that the Maddii Racing team really helped him with his development.
We caught up with Alessandro Lupino at Arco di Trento and he was very positive about the bike…
“The engine is unique, I think no one has it. The first time I tried the bike, it was in December, and when I jumped on the bike, immediately I felt it was a bike underneath, I mean, it is still now a prototype, but the first time I jumped on it, I said, f**k, I can do whatever I want, it’s a race bike”, Lupino told us.Â
We’ll continue to keep you updated as we discuss some silly season chat in the video below…
