Anaheim 1 is fast approaching and the excitement is palpable. One team may be feeling the excitement more than most, as the Troy Lee Designs Red Bull Ducati Factory Racing Team is about to line up for the first time ever. The team introduction was held last night, and Jason Weigandt was there and spoke with the general manager of Ducati Corse Off-Road to learn more about their decision to make a motocross bike and their expectations for supercross.
Racer X: Paolo Ciabatti, now, what's really interesting is, as this announcement that Ducati was going to build a dirt bike and go dirt bike racing came along, your name got attached to it pretty early, and that's a big deal because of the success in World Superbike and MotoGP. So, for you personally, why would you, I mean, you're going from the top of the top. Why would you decide to start over in a sense?
Paolo Ciabatti: You know, sometimes you like challenges in your life. Obviously, we've been quite successful in Superbike. And then when I joined Ducati again in 2013 in charge of MotoGP, our target was to be competitive and possibly win a championship. I was lucky enough to be able to win two championships with Pecco Bagnaia, ‘22 and ‘23. And then in the meantime, Ducati started this new project, which I like because as a teenager I was a motocross racer without very much talent, but I liked it so much. And so, I got more and more involved. And when I was offered the opportunity to become general manager of this new division, Ducati Corse Off-Road, I took it because it was possibly the last professional challenge of my career and being able hopefully to bring Ducati to success also in motocross and supercross is really something which motivates me a lot.
The partnerships are really what defines this, Troy Lee Designs and Factory Connection. Talk about how those things came about. Ducati didn't say, we've got this on our own. You've reached out to some very knowledgeable folks.
Yeah, I mean we know that we need to learn a lot, especially supercross is a very different discipline to motocross, what we know better in Europe and you know, during the past few years, we've been in touch with many, many people here. But talking to Ziggy and then to Troy, we found that they were sharing the same kind of vision. The same, I would say dream to try to bring Ducati to success. Also, in supercross, and with the expertise from Ziggy and the group of people he's been able to put together, has been instrumental to being able now to be at Anaheim 1. And obviously thanks to Troy, has been also instrumental and a great partner to make this happen. When they asked me a couple of years ago, I said, maybe Supercross ‘27. Now we are in supercross in ‘26. So, I think the hard work that has been done in the past year is now coming to the show. I mean, yeah, it's going to be exciting. Also, maybe it will be very nervous. The first race is going to be the first race. So far, we think we reached a good level. But until you are behind the gate, you never know exactly what to expect. And let's say we expect to do Anaheim one in a kind of smooth way, and then there will be another 16 races to go.
I'm glad you mentioned the ‘27 versus ‘26 thing. When a team shows up at Anaheim, everyone's going to look ready. But there must have been some stressful moments, especially that you've sped the process up a little bit.
Yeah, actually, you know, when we meet with Troy and with Ziggy at Austin MotoGP I said, 'Okay, let's kind of decide if we can go racing or not around the end of July, because obviously, if we're not competitive, it's no point in Ducati racing one year earlier than we expected.' But I must say that the intense work that has been done has proven to be successful up to the point. And then we decided, 'Okay, let's take maybe a little bit of risk and let's go racing '26,' because I think it was the right time, I know with Troy and the partners of the team and so on. So, you know, well, it was a stressful moment, a kind of brave decision from all the parties involved. But here we are, and we're happy to be taking part in the 2026 Supercross championship.
Main image courtesy of Ducati
