2024 will be remembered for a few reasons. Jorge Martin’s debut MotoGP™ title win. Marc Marquez’s debut victories on a Ducati. Pecco Bagnaia's 11 Sunday race wins... the list goes on. But one point that will forever be made about the season we’ve just enjoyed is this: my word, how good were Ducati?
After Bagnaia claimed back-to-back MotoGP titles in 2022 and 2023, the Italian rider and Ducati naturally came into 2024 as the favourites for the title. But could they really improve a bike by a lot that already looked like a pretty much perfect package? As the GP23 riders in the VR46 and Gresini ranks found out, including eight-time Champion Marquez, the answer was a resounding yes.
The only other manufacturer to win a race in 2024 was Aprilia when Maverick Viñales stole the show in Austin. KTM were in the mix on a few occasions with rookie star Pedro Acosta and factory mainstay Brad Binder, but ultimately, Ducati – in the hands of Martin, Bagnaia, Marquez and Enea Bastianini – proved too strong for everyone. Four of the best riders on the planet (that have won a combined 14 World Championship titles) riding a beautifully tuned Grand Prix motorcycle is always a recipe for bundles of success. And that’s precisely what Ducati received.
So let's dive into the eye-catching numbers Ducati are celebrating at the end of the 2024 campaign.
The numbers
Record number of wins in a season: 19
As previously stated, the only race Ducati didn’t celebrate victory at was the Americas GP. Otherwise, it was a perfect season. Bagnaia bagged the most victories with a stunning 11 25-point hauls, Martin and Marquez both claimed three, while Bastianini clinched two.
Record number of podiums in a season: 53
Only two Ducati riders failed to notch up Sunday podiums in 2024: Franco Morbidelli and Fabio Di Giannantonio, with the latter missing the final two Grands Prix through injury. The four winners, plus Gresini’s Alex Marquez and former VR46 rider Marco Bezzecchi, collected at least one podium each. In addition, every race saw at least one of Martin, Bagnaia, Marc Marquez and Bastianini stand on the Sunday rostrum. Impressive.
Record number of 1-2 finishes: 17
It’s easier to tell you the races where we didn’t witness a Ducati 1-2 finish in 2024. Maybe you know them already. The opening night of the season in Qatar was the first time it happened, as Binder claimed P2 behind Bagnaia. The aforementioned Americas GP was the second time when Viñales and Acosta were first and second for Aprilia and KTM. Then, the next and final time a Ducati 1-2 didn’t happen was in Indonesia, when Acosta finished P2 behind Martin.
Record number of podium lockouts: 14
Leading on from the list above, there were only three more races where a non-Ducati rider stepped onto the podium. They were in Portimao, Aragon and Buriram, and on all three occasions, it was Acosta who earned P3.
And there’s more…
In addition to those staggeringly good numbers above, Ducati also won three consecutive Riders’ titles for the first time in their history, while it was also the fifth time in a row that the Italians won the Constructors’ crown – and their sixth in total.
That five-in-a-row streak means Ducati became the first constructor to achieve such a feat in the MotoGP era, and just the fourth factory in premier class history to do so after MV Agusta, Suzuki and Honda.
In addition, it’s now an incredible 66 races on the spin where at least one Ducati rider has stood on the podium in MotoGP. And even more impressive is the front row stat: 80 times in a row there’s been at least one Ducati start from pole, P2 or P3. Quite extraordinary.
As we look ahead to 2025, Ducati will aim to keep their ball rolling. The others – KTM, Aprilia, Yamaha and Honda – will be out to close the gap and ensure the Italian giants don’t enjoy similar success.