The Ducati Corse Off-Road program is picking up steam, both here in the U.S. and over in Europe. Switzerland's Jeremy Seewer, the fourth-ranked FIM Motocross World Championship (MXGP) rider in 2024, has joined Italian rider Mattia Guadagnini for the FIM World Motocross Championship. They both raced the Mantova International last weekend, which unfortunately was pretty much a mudder. Seewer finished fourth and Guadagnini sixth. Ducati also released photos of what their Desmo450 MX bikes will look like when they open the season in Argentina in two weeks.
As far as how the Ducati project is coming along here in America, I asked Paolo Ciabetti, General Manager of Ducati Corse Off-Road, how things were coming along with Troy Lee for their U.S. racing team.
"Troy and I got in touch last year and realized to have many ideas in common," explained Ciabetti. "Our two brands are the perfect match for Ducati’s new off-road project, and we have the same goal to go racing successfully in the USA in the near future. The first step of our partnership, as we are not ready yet to take part in supercross, is the presence of the TLD truck with our Desmo450 MX bike on display at eight Supercross rounds in 2025, plus MotoGP at COTA in March."
As Troy Lee himself said at the U.S. unveiling of the Ducati Desmo450 at Anaheim Supercross opener last month, TLD and Ducati are still only "dating." In other words, they have not completely finalized an agreement in regards to the racing team, as many components--sponsors, gear agreements, the buildout of a race shop--are all still being worked out.
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Ducati Corse MXGP ![]()
Ducati Corse MXGP ![]()
Ducati Corse MXGP ![]()
Ducati Corse MXGP ![]()
Ducati Corse MXGP
As for who might be on the team, in whichever form it takes, Ciabetti said, "Many top US-based riders have shown a lot of interest in our project, which is very positive, but we are still at the beginning of the development of our Desmo450 MX for Supercross, and therefore it is too early for us to say when we will race a full season in SX."
Ciabetti has been called "the Pope of MotoGP" for the brand's success there, but getting ready for the first MXGP campaign this season has been a learning experience.
"Getting ready for our first full MXGP season has meant a lot of preparation work on all aspects [development, testing, logistics, sponsorships, etc.], but we are quite satisfied with the outcome so far," he offered. "The fact that the Desmo450 MX full-scale production will only begin in April has been an additional challenge for the racing department, but both Jeremy and Mattia are happy with the current overall performance of our bike, even though we still have room for improvements in different areas."
There is a chance that we may see the Ducati 450 on an AMA track this summer, as the Italian brand is planning on releasing and beginning the process of homologating their 2026 model Desmo450 for competition as soon as July 1. Said Palo, "If everything goes according to plan, we might consider a couple of outings in Pro Motocross in July." And the rider would almost certainly be nine-time FIM Motocross World Champion Antonio Cairoli, who has been helping build and test the bike for the last year and a half.
Finally, I asked Paolo how receptive have the Ducati motorcycle dealers in America been to the idea of adding motocross models to their offerings? He replied, "For what I hear from my colleagues at Ducati North America, the U.S. dealer network is really excited about the new Ducati off-road bikes being added to the current model range."
