That is the challenge that now falls to ♑Francesco Bagnaia and Ducati, after the young Italian clinched the factory’s first premi♉er-class crown since Casey Stoner in 2007.

But even Stoner, who went on to win a second world championshiཧp with Hon🐽da in 2011, wasn’t able to claim back-to-back titles.

Since the start of the four-stroke MotoGP era in 2002 only Bag♌naia’s mentor Valentino Rossi and Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez have been able to defend a title in the following season.

Prior to that, it was only achieved by other giants of the sports such as Mi﷽ck Doohan, Wayne Rainey, Kenny Roberts, Barry Sheene and Giacomo Agostini.

• FIRST LOOK: Francesco Bagnaia’s #1 Ducati MotoGP liver🌊y, Enea Bastianini presented in factory red
• Alex Marquez: ‘Everyone starts from zero, b🌄ut Marc’s the favo༺urite'
• Dall’Igna: Ducati MotoE 𝕴bike ‘just the start’, lap time ‘really good

“It’s a very tough challenge, according to the statistics as well,” acknowledged Ducatiไ Corse general ma𝕴nager Gigi Dall’Igna.

“There are just a few riders that managed to repeat their success in t♑he following season. So it’s a very complicated challenge, but we love challenges and we love trying to achieve them.

“We are world champions but we need to be well ground🔯ed and ꧅humble, which is a very important characteristic in sport and life.”

If Bagnaia🦂 is able to repeat his 2022 success, he will also become the first rider in the MotജoGP era to defend a title while using the #1 plate.

"Seeing [the #1] on the bike is be🃏autiful, and now my goal will be to do everything to keep it,” pledged the Italian.

"It won't be easy because I expect꧒ even tougher competition than last year, with many rivals ready to fight for the title: however, I am awarꦉe that I have the best bike and team to aim high again in 2023.”

One of those rivals could be ne🔯w team-mate Enea Bastianini, third in last year’s world championship,  who is stepping up to the factory team.

Ducati to take fewer technical risks in 2023?

Dall’Igna’s era at Ducati has become synonymous with technical innovations - such as wings, holeshot/ride-height deಌvices, the swingarm scoop and now rear-seat aero - that are then copied across the MotoGP grid.

But Dalꩵl’Igna hinted that the factory has learned from its tricky start to last season, where it took six races for the new GP22 (and Bagnaia) to win after being thrown off-course by winter engine updates, while the front ride-height system (banned for 2023) also proved tricky to set-up and was abandoned by the factory team.

“It’s true that in the last few years Ducati has introduced a lot of technical innovations, so much that the MotoGP🎉 technique itself has changed. But I’m talking about years where our competitors have been stronger than us so we had to take a lot of risks,” Dall’Igna explained.

“But last year taught us something, which is the fact t♔hat taking some breaks [in technical innovations] can help our perf🍰ormances.”

While evolution rather than revolution is the soundbite for the GP23, Dall’Igna confirmed that new aerodynamic parts – held back from the bike on display at today’s team launch - will b🌳e seen on tr♈ack at the upcoming Sepang test.

“We will talk about aerodynamic inn🍨ovations in Sepang,” Dall’Igna&🗹nbsp;said.

Ducati was among the manufacturers seen testing an Aprilia-style lower fairi🐟ng at the Val𒆙encia test last November.