DUCATI – A DREAM TEAM

It was announced this week, at the Milan Show, that Ducati would take a new direction with their team and start working with Louis Vosters for the 2026 season. Vosters obviously has a good record in the sport, having run the Yamaha and Fantic factory efforts in the past, but this new deal with Ducati, is something he never thought would happen, and is excited for the change.

“When Ducati approached me,” Vosters said. “I was really excited, and I was already sure, if I had the chance, I would go for it. It is like a dream come true to work with a manufacturer like Ducati. They have a real racing DNA, and they want to go for the win. That we really work together with the Ducati factory guys, straight from the factory and in really close contact with each other. The product is a year old, but its very new still and the development and improvements I think we can make in the near future really makes this a project I wanted to be part of. I have been to the Ducati factory and yes, its really impressive. You can see, all the people there are really involved. The MXGP department, it is so special. It is an old school build, and it was really nice to see. You can feel the history of that company.”

A new rider in the Ducati line-up is Calvin Vlaanderen, who moves from the Yamaha factory team to the Italian effort and like his team owner, he is excited for what is coming in 2026. Not just for being able to race for the legendary Italian brand, but also how easy his transition is to be riding the red rocket.

“It’s a dream come true,” Vlaanderen said. “It is awesome. Ducati is such an iconic brand and to sign for them, it’s really a dream come true. I will be proud to be wearing their colours and representing them. I thought I would get on and it would take some time to get comfortable with it. I thought I would be completely lost, and I had all these expectations of riding it. I thought I would have to search for comfort. I had ridden the Yamaha for a number of years, so I expected it to be very different, but I felt really good and I was surprised. After just a couple of minutes and I got off the bike with a big smile on my face.”

Vlaanderen also knows that improving this new project and making the bike even better than it was this year is a big goal and he and his team-mates, Jeremy Seewer and Andrea Bonacorsi will be working very hard in the winter to make this bike not only a possible podium bike, but a GP winner.

“There are definitely things we will need to work on. I haven’t spent that much time on the bike, and I haven’t even ridden the factory bike. I have been riding the stock bike. The next week we have some big tests, and I am just trying to get as much time on the stock bike, to get comfortable, before I get on the factory bike for testing. I cannot really say what needs to be changed. What is cool, I have a lot of experience, and I know what I like. I know riding the stock bike, there are a couple of things I am searching for. I don’t know if those issues will be better on the factory bike, or not. We just take it day by day and a bike is never perfect, and it can always improve.”

So, now with a little more than three months to prepare for what is going to be an epic Grand Prix season in 2026, Vosters, Vlaanderen, and the rest of the Ducati factory team will be doing many laps around different circuits, to make sure, when they arrive at round one of the MXGP championship, they are ready to battle the best in the world.

Photo credit: Ducati Corse