Ducati is bringing back a nine-time Italian Champion out of retirement to race in an upcoming Italian Championship. However, it’s not Valentino Rossi that they are referring to. Rossi’s VR46 Racing Team runs Ducati machinery in MotoGP, but another Italian champion, Antonio Cairoli, is being brought back to compete.
Cairoli amassed a world title count equal to that of Rossi in a World Championship motocross career that lasted from 2004 until 2021. He began his career with Yamaha, but switched to KTM in 2010. Cairoli became an icon for KTM, winning premier class titles with them in 2010-2014 and 2017. After retiring at the end of 2021, he signed on to continue with Red Bull KTM as a team manager from 2023.
However, Cairoli wanted more riding opportunities and decided to join Ducati to become a test rider for its new Desmo450 MX motocross bike. The bike has been raced by Alessandro Lupino in the Italian Motocross Prestige MX1 series. Cairoli will join Lupino at the upcoming Ponte a Egola round, the fourth of the 2024 Italian Championship on 22-23 June.
This will be Cairoli’s first time lining up since the 2022 Motocross of Nations and his first race for Ducati. It will also be the first time the Ducati ‘crosser has been ridden competitively by a rider with the kind of competitive record possessed by Cairoli. The Demso450 MX is expected to debut in the MXGP World Championship on a full-time basis next year, possibly with a team unveiling at this year’s Motocross of Nations at Matterley Basin
