MotoGP Legendary bikes – The Ducati GP7

The Ducati GP7 was the first 800cc bike to win a world championship after the change in regulations for 2007.

For 2007, MotoGP moved to the 800cc bikes with Ducati building the GP7 which featured a double L-Twin motor, with 225 hp at 19000 rpm, the Ducati factory team riders were Loris Capirossi and Casey Stoner who was crowned world champion that season.

Casey Stoner won the title on a bike that in reality, was a blunt instrument to the rival Yamaha’s surgical precision, with designer Filippo Preziosi deciding the best way to win was to give the Bologna Bullet a lot more horsepower than anything else on the grid, even if the chassis was not quite up to standards.

When Qatar came around to open the season, the Ducati was quite clearly the bike to beat in the desert, with the long straight allowing the Desmodromic engine to really stretch its legs and assert itself as the early season leader after Stoner came out on top after a duel with Valentino Rossi.

The trend continued at both the Turkish and Chinese GPs, with Rossi managing to beat the red machine at Jerez, Stoner could only manage 5th. Le Mans was a wet race which Chris Vermeulen won on the Suzuki, but Stoner was on the podium again.

By round 13 at Misano, Stoner had stamped his authority on the championship, and took the title at Motegi, the home of Honda. He only came home 6th but the race was won by the other Factory Ducati of Loris Capirossi, and to this day is Ducati’s only title.

The bike itself was actually not particularly anything special. The bike had a load of power, but still had a trellis steel frame that was nowhere near the level of the aluminium frames of the Japanese manufacturers. It truly was the last hurrah of the ‘true’ steel frame from Ducati, as in 2008 carbon fibre would be used. It had the age-old Ducati issue of turning problems which have not been solved even today, even with a new designer.

With the bike being the only Ducati to win a world title, it deserves its place as a legendary machine.

Featured image – Ducati