Ducati MotoGP teams unveil 2013 liveries

As a steady snowfall continued to drop on the participants high up in the Italian Dolomite mountains near the Chalet Pradalago of the Madonna di Campiglio ski resort, the 2013 factory Ducati pairing of Nicky Hayden and Andrea Dovizioso and the “Junior Team” Pramac Racing squad of Ben Spies and Andrea Iannone took the covers off their Ducati Desmosedici MotoGP racebikes to reveal each teams’ new livery. While the fluorescent yellow of former rider Valentino Rossi’s design is obviously gone, much of the factory Ducati Team colors and motif remain the same in deference to title sponsor Phillip Morris’ Marlboro tobacco brand. What was notable with the 2013 bikes was a definite sparse number of secondary sponsor stickers.

It’s been said that Valentino Rossi’s value as a rider extends to team sponsorship as well, and while his absence and its role in the smaller number of Ducati Team sponsors for 2013 is debatable, there’s no doubting that the team lost a significant chunk of sponsorship funds this year. Gone are major sponsor Generali Insurance, along with Italy’s largest power company Enel, Diesel clothing, and Mercedes performance specialists AMG (although that sponsorship was nixed the moment rival auto firm Audi took over the reins to Ducati). It’s been said that the loss of sponsorship dollars runs in the tens of millions; normally this would be a death knell for most teams, but with Phillip Morris’ huge financial backing in addition to Audi’s abundant resources, the factory Ducati team is still on solid ground.

The Pramac Racing team will have different main sponsors on Andrea Iannone’s and Ben Spies’ bikes, although the coloring is basically the same. Spies’ Desmosedici sports the logo of asset management firm Ignite (a financial corporation based in New York), while teammate Iannone’s Ducati is sponsored by Energy T.I., a natural gas trading concern in Italy.