Aprilia’s Luigi Dall’Igna To Take Over At Ducati Corse

Cycle News Staff | October 10, 2013

Photography by Gold & Goose
Ducati has poached engineer Luigi Dall’Igna from rival Italian manufacturer Aprilia to become the new General Manager of Ducati Corse, effective at the end of the current racing season. Dall’Igna replaces Bernhard Gobmeier, the German who held the job for the past 10 months after coming over from BMW.

Gobmeier will return to Germany to work for the Volkswagen Group, according to Ducati.

Ducati is hopeful that the highly recognizable 47-year-old Dall’Igna can fix more than the current MotoGP woes. There’s also a Ducati Panigale to make more competitive in World Superbike and Dall’Igna has vast experience in both series.

“His expertise will enable the Bologna-based manufacturer to increase its focus on the technical aspects of its racing activity, continuing to lay the foundations for a new phase of development and improving its competitive results,” the release from Ducati states.

Dall’Igna will report directly to Ducati Motor Holding CEO, Claudio Domenicali.

Paolo Ciabatti will continue in his role as MotoGP Project Manager and will report to Dall’Igna. Ditto for Ducati Superbike Project Manager Ernesto Marinelli. The new appointments take effect on November 11 – the day after the final MotoGP of the season at Valencia in Spain.

“Thanks to this appointment, we can look forward to the next racing season with renewed motivation,” said Domenicali in the Ducati release. “We are confident that the new Ducati Corse organization, and a strategy even more focused on technical development, will help us achieve our targets, ensuring that Ducati once again becomes a key player both in MotoGP and Superbike. I would like to personally thank Bernhard [Gobmeier] for his work during these past 10 months, and wish Gigi a warm welcome. I am certain that his solid experience combined with our technology and R&D and the technical support supplied by the Audi/VW Group, will help us restore Ducati to the level of racing excellence it had in the very recent past.”