This is a big year for the battery electric bike race series MotoE, which supports selected European MotoGP rounds. The control bike for the class has switched from Energica’s Ego Corsa to the Ducati V21L, and the first race will be at the French GP on May 13.
Ducati has to get 23 bikes ready for pre-season testing in March, and production is well under way. There are 18 identical race bikes on the grid each race, with five spare machines also required for the series. Each prototype race bike is essentially hand-built by top Ducati race technicians at Borgo Panigale, with R&D engineers watching closely. It’s a whole new world for Ducati, and even with assistance from electric vehicle specialists at the Volkswagen parent group, the pressure will be on.
The 2023 MotoE World Championship calendar is spread over eight Grands Prix with two races per weekend, both on the Saturday. After the French debut, the MotoE World Championship will continue at Mugello on the weekend of 11 June, at Sachsenring on the following weekend and at Assen on the 25 June. After the summer break, the Ducati MotoE bikes will return to the track at Silverstone on 5 August, before tackling the final three Grands Prix at the Red Bull Ring (20 August), Catalunya (2 September) and Misano (10 September).