Open class racing in six different countries and supported by Ducati Europe, the Dutch Ducati Dealer Cup or 3D Cup for Ducati riders only, will be entering it’s fifth year of competition.

Last year saw three female riders take up the challenge and thanks to their satifactory results, another two have decided to try test their talents in the 2010 3D Cup. Five female riders will be on the starting grid: Bernice Sangers, Ilja Pokorny, Sjimmy Bruininkx, Peggy Appelmans who are all going to try to beat each other and their male counterparts in the tough business of racing.

You can keep up on the progress and results of these fantastic riders at DutchDucatiWomen.

Continue reading: 3D Cup- Dutch Dealer Ducati Supports Women Riders

Following the Ducati tradition, the newest and hottest member of the Italian marque’s family, the four-in-one Multistrada 1200 received it’s official christening with the mandatory bottle of bubbly, when the first MTS in white, rolled off the floor in Borgo Panigale, in the presence of Claudio Domenicali, Gabriele Del Torchio and Silvano Fini.

Source | motoblog

Continue reading: First Ducati Multistrada Rolls off the Production Line

Ducati’s Nicky Hayden is the latest of riders who has gone under the doctor’s knife. Hayden needed a clean-up procedure to remove scar tissue from his right arm from an arm pump (the bane of professional riders) operation that he underwent in November.

Hayden’s surgery was carried out in Doctor Angel Vilamor’s clinic in Madrid, Spain immediately after the recent tests in Sepang, but unlike FIAT Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo, the American rider luckily will not miss out on the upcoming tests that take place February 25th and 26th, always at the Sepang circuit.

Continue reading: Nicky Hayden Undergoes Surgery

Under the new rules (dumb, because the riders are hanging around the track or at the pool of the Pan Pacific Hotel) the first day of testing held at Sepang, was for test riders only. The weather is typically Malaysian and as Jorge Lorenzo is reporting from his Twitter page ‘Que calor!’ (it’s hot) and tomorrow’s weather forecast predicts rain.

Test riders included Vittoriano Guareschi, who hung up his Team Manager persona momentarily, by spending five hours testing the Ducati Desmosedici GP10 and not only for the factory Ducati team, but he also gave a shakedown test on all the Ducati satellite team bikes, a total of 10 motorcycles!

Suzuki had on track Nobuatsu Aoki with the GSV-R, while Honda had Akiyoshi Kosuke on the new and revolutionary looking RC212V. Yamaha had two test riders, Yamaha Norihiko Fujiwara e Wataru Yoshikawa with the YZR-M1.

The official riders will take to the track on tomorrow and Friday to test their new bikes and Fiat Yamaha will also offically unveil its 2010 YZR-M1 tomorrow with pics, a series of press conferences and backstage videos by the Fiat on the Web team.

For photos from Sepang, check out our Italian cousins at Motoblog, here and here.

Continue reading: MotoGP Sepang Test: Wednesday - Test Riders Only

Here’s a small pictorial evolution of the Ducati Desmosedici GP bike designed and developed by the creative genius of Fillipo Preziosi, from it’s debut in 2002 to the current 2010 bike that will contest this season’s MotoGP championship with Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden.

Before the jump the GP2.

Continue reading: A Pictorial Evolution of the Ducati Desmosedici from the GP2 to GP10

Freezing temperatures and rain showers hampered the second day of private testing at Valencia. The Aprilia team even packed in early and won’t be testing tomorrow, because Max Biaggi and Leon Camier will be in Montecarlo for Piaggio’s European Dealers Convention.

“Unfortunately this time the weather was against us,” declared Max Biaggi, “and this could be a problem because we didn’t get the confirmation we were looking for. In addition our rivals will also be testing tomorrow, when it’s expected to be sunny. Now the situation is a bit more complicated, we’ll be testing in Australia before the race, but if there are any problems then it will be too late to do anything. I’m still optimistic however because I have every confidence in the work of the Aprilia engineers“.

Xerox Ducati rider Noriyuki Haga completed 19 laps, while team mate Michel Fabrizio did about four before heading back to his garage. Shane Byrne and Carlos Checa riding their Althea Ducati’s also did a handful of laps before calling it quits.

Troy Corser and Ruben Xaus each managed about 10 laps with very high lap times on their BMW S 1000 RR and they too decided that riding in today’s weather wouldn’t produce any decent testing.

Aprilia won’t be on track tomorrow, while Ducati, BMW, Althea Ducati and Team Pata (Borciani-Guandalini) will try to get some testing done, weather permitting.

Source | wsbk

Continue reading: WSBK: Second Day of Testing at Valencia with more bad weather

You can tell that we are finally approaching the new racing season when teams start their official presentations.

The new 2010 Althea Racing Team was officially presented on Saturday January 16th at a club in Fasano, near Brindisi (Italy). This year Althea Racing has switched from Honda’s to Ducati 1198’s and will see Carlos Checa and Shane Byrne contest in the World Superbike Championship while the team will also see Flavio Gentile ride in the CIV (Italian Superbike Championship).

The Italian team has a brand new red and white and blue racing livery designed by Maya Cohen, who also works as the team’s press officer.

Carlos Checa joined Althea having spent his first two WSBK seasons with Ten Kate Honda: “In few days we’ll leave for Portimao and I will be able to start to work with my new technicians in order to start the Superbike world championship in the best possible way. My team worked very hard to prepare the bikes and I’ll do my best starting from the first test session in Portimao because I want to start this 2010 season in the right way.”

Continue reading: WSBK - Althea Racing Launches 2010 Line Up

Here’s a last video of the combined Ducati/Ferrari teams Wrooom 2010 launch at the Madonna di Campiglio ski resort.

Besides a mini ski race where even beginner Nicky Hayden who isn’t exactly a snow lover got into the act. The riders and drivers then faced off in a pair of exhibition ice races on a specially prepared ice course in the center of town.

The first was on Fiat 4×4 Pandas that was won by Formula 1 driver Felippe Massa, but Casey Stoner who would like to switch to V8 supercars when he retires, came in second with Nicky Hayden third.

The second race was on shifter go-karts with spiked wheels where Nicky Hayden strutted his talent dominating the entire race and lapping the entire field and beating Brazilian F1 driver Felippe Massa. New Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso was unable to finish after he crashed into the barriers.

Continue reading: Wrooom 2010: Skiing, Car and Kart Racing

Another video from Wrooom, the official presentation of Desmosedici GP10 at 1700mt with balloons, dancers and the mandatory bottle of spumante, even if was actually two bottles, because Claudio Domenicali broke the cork inside the first.

Vittoriano Guareschi, who will be Ducati’s team manager this season, has decided not to hang up his lid and leathers despite his new job, infact he has decided to personally continue the testing of the new GP10 along with new test rider Franco Battaini, who is still learning the ropes.

The test team (Guareschi and Battaini) will be in Jerez this Saturday and Sunday for more testing of the Desmosedici GP10.

Continue reading: Another Video from Ducati Wrooom

After this afternoon’s video of the Ducati Desmosedici GP10 from Wroom 2010 at Madonna del Campiglio, we’ve finally got some great pics of the bike that you can really enjoy.

Continue reading: Ducati Desmosedici GP10 Pics

Just like former World Champions Wayne Gardner and Troy Bayliss before him, Casey Stoner during Ducati’s Wrooom admitted that once he retires he too would like to try his hand on Australia’s V8 Supercars.

“After I retire from bikes it’s my plan basically.I enjoy driving dirt cars around. Before I retire I may be testing a few cars and get ready, but once I retire from bikes I think cars will be a little bit more of a relaxing sport for me. I’m not talking about going to Formula 1, but something like V8 touring cars in Australia. I think something like that would be a lot of fun.”

“It’s something I’m planning on. But for now and for the near future I’m enjoying my bikes and that’s all I want to do for now.”

Source | autosport.com

Continue reading: Casey Stoner would like to race V8 Supercars when he retires

Here’s a video from Wrooom with a first look at the Ducati’s new 2010 ‘weapon’ as Nicky Hayden calls the Desmosedici GP10, with all it’s sponsor stickers in place.

Claudio Domenicali, Ducati’s General Director has stated that the GP10 has a new big bang firing order that improves traction and that Ducati’s engineers have worked on eliminating the bike’s tendency to shake and wheelie. The rear of the GP10 has been completely redone, with six anchor points instead of four, making it more rigid which guarantees better handling.

Visually the GP10 has a different fairing compared to the GP9, but have kept the changes that the company introduced at Estoril last year to make the bike less sensible to lateral wind shear. They’ve also made minor changes in electronics, wiring and other smaller details.

Source | gpone

Continue reading: Ducati Desmosedici GP10 Video