VOL. 50 ISSUE 37 SEPTEMBER 17, 2013
P33
FIRST LOOK: DUCATI 899 PANIGALE
T
he brand-new Ducati 899
Panigale was shown off last
week at the VW Group Night in
Frankfurt, Germany, on the eve of
the IAA International Motor Show.
Ducati CEO Claudio Domenicali
presented the bike in what was a
preview of its 2014 model range.
The newest Ducati is described as a "Supermid" version
of the 1199 Panigale, designed to
"provide the thrill of the new generation flagship model with the
refined character of an every day
streetbike."
The 899 features a brand new
Superquadro engine with a revised bore and stroke and Ducati
claims the new powerplant produces 148 horsepower with 73
foot pounds of torque. The engine
package is a fully stressed member of the Panigale monocoque
construction and the bike has a
dry weight of 372.5 pounds, ac-
cording to Ducati. It also gets a
two-sided swingarm – unlike the
1199.
The 899 looks like the 1199 to
keep the family DNA and it gets
all the goodies that its bigger
sibling uses: Ducati Quick Shift
(DQS) and the fully integrated riding mode technologies of Ride-
by-Wire, triple stage ABS, Ducati
Traction Control (DTC) and Engine Brake Control (EBC).
The 899 Panigale will be available in late October in traditional
Ducati red with black wheels
or arctic white with red wheels.
MSRP is listed as $14,995 for the
red and $15,295 for the white.
M
arc Marquez might not have won
Sunday's MotoGP at the Misano
World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, but he
was quickest there on Monday in a postrace test.
Marquez ripped off a 1:33.254 (.3 of
a second off his record-setting pole lap
from Saturday's qualifying) at the end of
the day to bump Misano Grand Prix winner Jorge Lorenzo from the top spot. Lorenzo's factory Yamaha teammate Valentino Rossi ended the day third quickest.
The Repsol Honda team focused its
efforts at the test on the evolution bike of
the one first sampled in the Aragon test
continued on next page
Marc Marquez led
Monday's test at
Misano, but it didn't
come without another
crash from the
championship leader.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
MARQUEZ LEADS MISANO TEST
