Ducati Corse functions as the racing arm of Ducati Motor Holding, employing more than 100 people — roughly 10% of the parent company's workforce — organised across departments for technical research and development, sporting activities, commercial activities, and marketing. The commercial arm supplies motorcycles and technical support to satellite teams, extending Ducati's grid presence well beyond its two factory entries. Ducati returned to MotoGP for the 2003 season after the class switched from two-stroke to four-stroke regulations, a change that aligned with the marque's existing road-racing engineering.
The team entered 2003 as the Ducati Marlboro Team with Troy Bayliss and Loris Capirossi. Capirossi took a podium at the opening round in Japan and won in Catalonia; the squad finished second in the Constructors' standings behind Honda. Progress stalled somewhat in 2004, though both riders collected podiums late in the season. For 2005 Carlos Checa replaced Bayliss, Ducati switched tyre supplier to Bridgestone, and Capirossi won twice, at Motegi and Sepang.
The 2006 season was turbulent. A mid-race collision between Capirossi and Sete Gibernau at the Catalan Grand Prix left both injured and disrupted the team's campaign. The year ended memorably at Valencia: Troy Bayliss, recalled from the Superbike paddock, won the final race with Capirossi second — Ducati's first ever 1–2 finish in the premier class.
Casey Stoner joined as Capirossi's new teammate in 2007. Ducati had started development of its 800cc Desmosedici as early as August 2006, and the combination of a fast bike and a driver able to exploit its characteristics on high-speed layouts proved devastating. Stoner won the riders' championship at Motegi in September 2007 with three rounds remaining. Ducati also claimed the Constructors' and Teams' titles, completing the marque's first triple crown; chief engineer Alan Jenkins received the Sir Jackie Stewart Award for the season's engineering work.
Stoner added six wins in 2008 alongside a struggling Marco Melandri. With Nicky Hayden as partner in 2009 and 2010, Stoner continued to win regularly. On 9 July 2010 he announced his departure to Honda for 2011, ending a four-year stint that had revived Ducati's premier-class credentials.
Valentino Rossi signed a two-year deal to race for Ducati in 2011 and 2012, with Hayden retained alongside him. The partnership produced no wins for either rider. Rossi endured his first winless seasons in the premier class — finishing seventh in 2011 and similarly outside the top six in 2012 — before returning to Yamaha.
Andrea Dovizioso became the team's anchor from 2013. After transitional seasons with Nicky Hayden and then Cal Crutchlow, Ducati's competitiveness transformed when Gigi Dall'Igna arrived as race director in 2015 and oversaw a comprehensive redesign of the Desmosedici, launched as the GP15. Jorge Lorenzo joined the team for 2017 and 2018, adding three wins in his second year before departing for Honda.
Dovizioso finished championship runner-up in 2017, 2018, and 2019 — three consecutive seasons as the closest challenger to Marc Márquez. In 2017 he scored six race wins and lost the title only at the final round in Valencia when he crashed. The 2019 margin was a colossal 171 points to Márquez. Danilo Petrucci, promoted from the Pramac satellite team for 2019, won at Mugello and finished sixth overall.
In the truncated 2020 season Dovizioso won in Austria and finished fourth in the standings. Despite the factory team's modest individual result, Ducati won its second Constructors' MotoGP World Championship. Dovizioso announced his departure citing a breakdown in his relationship with Dall'Igna; Petrucci was also released.
Francesco Bagnaia and Jack Miller launched the Ducati Lenovo Team branding in 2021. Bagnaia finished runner-up that year with four late-season wins; Ducati claimed the Constructors' and Teams' titles. In 2022, recovering from five DNFs, Bagnaia won seven races and claimed the riders' championship — Ducati's first since Stoner in 2007. The team secured another triple crown. Bagnaia defended the title in 2023, becoming the first Ducati rider to win consecutive MotoGP championships, though his new partner Enea Bastianini — who had replaced Miller after promotion from Gresini — missed large parts of the season through injury.
The 2024 season saw Bagnaia take eleven wins, more than three times the next-highest individual total in the field, yet he lost the championship to Ducati's own Pramac satellite rider Jorge Martín at the final round. The factory team took the Teams' title. Ducati as a manufacturer shattered records that year: fourteen podium lockouts, seventeen 1–2 finishes, and nineteen race wins across all its entries.
Marc Márquez, six-time premier-class champion with Honda, was announced as Bagnaia's new factory partner on 5 June 2024. Bagnaia struggled with the GP25 machine, winning twice but accumulating five consecutive DNFs at the season's end, finishing fifth overall. Márquez swept through the season to clinch a ninth world title in Japan with five rounds to spare, becoming the factory Ducati team's third MotoGP champion. The squad collected yet another triple crown. Both riders were confirmed for 2026.
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