Ducati MotoGP Night Attracts Massive Crowd

The recent celebration dedicated to the Ducati Marlboro Team just prior to their first race of the year in Qatar, later this month, proved to be a hit, as the Ducati MotoGP Night event managed to attract over 38,000 fans in Bologna’s Piazza Maggiore.

This was the biggest pre-season party ever organised by the Italian motorcycle manufacturer, an event which concluded a day that featured a visit to the Ducati factory in Borgo Panigale, Bologna during which Rossi and Hayden toured the production lines and met the workers.

Following the introductions of Gabriele Del Torchio, Claudio Domenicali, Filippo Preziosi and the rest of the team, the massive crowd gathered that evening heard two MotoGP bikes start and Rossi and Hayden rode their Ducati Desmosedici GP11s onto the stage.

During the previously held press conference, Del Torchio also took the opportunity to announce that an agreement had been signed to start work on a brand new factory in Borgo Panigale, Bologna.

“The new Ducati factory will be 134,600 square metres, a 15% increase over our current site,” he revealed. “55,000 square metres of covered structure with 13,500 square metres of offices and supporting utilities such as museum, auditorium and canteen and 41,500 square metres of production, R&D, Ducati Corse and storage. An additional 11,000 metres of potential future expansion has also been factored in."

“We have the possibility to be truly international, but to do so Bologna must be the central base of our operation. Borgo Panigale is the head, the heart and the hands of our company,” continued Del Torchio. “The intelligence, the passion and the professionalism of Ducati will always be in Bologna. This doesn’t mean that we will not explore other opportunities internationally, but Bologna will always remain the heart. This is a piece of news that I really have great pleasure in announcing tonight of all nights.”