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Gigi Dall‘Igna took over the job as General Manager at Ducati Corse in Borgo Panigale from German Bernhard Gobmeier in October 2013 and started to fight for the MotoGP title against Marc Márquez and Honda with Andrea Dovizioso from 2017 to 2019.
In the meantime Ducati has become the strongest brand in the premier class. The Desmosedici bikes will win the fifth world constructor’s title in a row in 2024 – plus the third riders championship. And it came as a quite a surprise when in 2022 of all things Aleix Espargaró gave Ducati a run for their money – on an Aprilia Factory bike.
When Gigi Dall’Igna was asked after the first MotoGP world title of Pecco Bagnaia and the SBK crown with Álvaro Bautista in 2022 if he would now consider another move to a rival brand like Honda he stated: "No, I still have to achieve some more goals. I also want to win the Supersport Championship in the same year."
Ducati (who also supplied the MotoE world championship bikes for the first time in 2023) triumphed at the SSP with Bulega last year. And it came as no surprise that the Japanese Honda Racing Corporation Top Management tried to hire Dall’Igna and some other top Ducati engineers in order to produce a more powerful Honda RC213V for the coming years.
But Gigi turned the lucrative offer down.
The Austrian Pierer Mobility Group (KTM, GASGAS, Husqvarna Motorcycles and 50,1% of MV Agusta Motor S.P.A.) has taken another direction during the last few years and step by step has hired Ducati engineers und Crew Chiefs like Fabiano Sterlacchini, Cristhian Pupulin, Alberto Giribuola plus long time Pramac Ducati team manager Francesco Guidotti amongst others.
Why has KTM never done the next step and approached Gigi Dall’Igna who should be able to make the last little step for the biggest Ducati challenger and their promising KTM RC16.
Worth remembering now: KTM will line up with Brad Binder and Pedro Acosta in the Factory team next year and will run Maverick Viñales (10 MotoGP wins) and Enea Bastianini (5 MotoGP wins) in the Red Bull Tech3 squad next near.
But Hubert Trunkenpolz, member of the board at directors at Pierer Mobility, denies any interest in Dall’Igna in an exclusive interview with gpone.com.
"Honestly talking, we never ever considered such a move seriously", said Hubert Trunkenpolz. "It is also difficult to imagine for me that Gigi Dall’Igna would consider leaving Ducati. It would be a bit akward from his point of view if he would follow this route. In KTM we really never discussed such a move or such an idea. Nobody would argue about the fact that Gigi is a genius engineer and a very successful team prinzipal. We do not need to discuss this fact. His handwriting is clearly displaced on the Ducati bikes. The big question is: Would he be able to have the same success in a different surrounding and in a different environment? I am completely honest if I tell you: We have not yet thought about approaching Gigi Dall’Igna."
"I totally agree with Hubert", confirmed Pit Beirer, Motorsport Director of KTM. "Gigi has his life in Italy, he has set up an amazing network, he has access to various universities, he has a great bunch of engineers on hand and all vendors and contractors he needs. He can definitely operate more effective at Ducati than he would be able to at KTM in Austria. That is why hiring Gigi Dall’Igna is not a conceivable scenario for us."
