Paolo Ciabatti has stepped down from his role as the director of the Ducati MotoGP team with Mauro Grassilli replacing him in a major shake-up in the brand's motorsport activities. Ciabatti exited his role within Ducati's MotoGP team to focus on the brand's new motocross team that's set to participate in the Italian Motocross Championship. Ciabatti was signed on as the sporting director at Ducati in 2014, spending a decade building a highly successful team in the premier-class championship. Before that he had helmed the Italian brand’s MotoGP team as its project director.
The new motocross team is a result of a new off-road division within Ducati that will be headed up by Ciabatti. He will retain responsibility over Ducati's activities in circuit racing in America, the UK, Japan, Australia and Italy.
Under Ciabatti's leadership, Ducati won the 2007 MotoGP championship with Casey Stoner, only to be followed by 15 winless years for the motorcycle maker. However, the team returned in its full form with rider Francesco Bagnaia picking up the championship trophy consecutively in 2022 and 2023.
For incoming sporting director Mauro Grassilli, it will not only be a challenge to live up to the expectations set over the last two years but to also work around the new concessions rules being brought in next season. The move is being made to promote competitiveness across teams and comes at a time when Ducati won a record 17 out of the 20 races on the 2023 MotoGP calendar.
Ducati will continue to field eight bikes on the 2024 MotoGP grid, the most by any manufacturer. The factory team will retain Bagnaia, while satellite team Pramac Ducati will hold on to Jorge Martin who were title contenders this year. But all eyes will be on Marc Marquez, who announced his switch from Honda to Gresini for next season and will be racing on the 2023-spec Ducati.
