DUCATI PANIGALE 1199 RS13
RACER TEST
P92
So in the coming season un-
der Dall'Igna's guidance, Ducati
surely needs to pay much better
attention to developing its RS14
Superbike contender's perfor-
mance and rideability than it evi-
dently did in 2013. After all, the
Panigales are the bikes its cus-
tomers actually buy, not (yet?!)
a V-four desmosedici Superbike
– and most committed ducatisti
who can afford one probably al-
ready have a Panigale by now.
Yet if the Italian firm wants to at-
tract conquest customers from
other brands, and get people to
keep on buying its Superbike-
with-lights, it's going to have to
keep it up front on the racetrack,
and not suffer any more seasons
like it did in 2013.
Ducati is a racing brand, and
that means it can't be there just
to make up the numbers for any
length of time, without having its
unique selling point devalued,
and the entire brand image lose
its luster. Imagine Ferrari finish-
ing 11th in the Formula 1 series
for more than just a single annus
horribilis – it wouldn't exactly live
up to the expectations of its cus-
tomers, would it?
The promising times posted by
new recruits Davies and Giuglia-
no in Ducati's end-of-year Aragon
testing – where the Welshman
went faster on the factory Pani-
gale Superbike with race tires
than he had in scoring a double
race win on his BMW there ear-
lier in the year – augur well for
Ducati's return to the front of the
grid in 2014.
Unless this coming season
is going to be a holding year for
the Italian manufacturer while it
awaits the arrival of the new less
extreme rules next year, when,
according to Nico Canepa's Su-
perstock performances last sea-
son on the 1199, the Panigale
RS may very well be a contender
again? It can surely be no coinci-
dence that Canepa is racing an
EVO-class Superbike this com-
ing season for Ducati's previous
privateer World Champion part-
ner, Team Althea, presumably as
a development bike for 2015. CN
A lot packed into
a little space.
The naked RS13
with its 1198cc
Superquadro
engine and all
the goodies
packed into the
monocoque
chassis.
