Ducati had a phenomenal 2022, winning championships and races in all the main two-wheel championships. Starting with MotoGP, where it triumphed together with Pecco Bagnaia, and continuing with SBK, where it was successful with Alvaro Bautista. Then there was the Italian CIV, Michele Pirro’s hunting ground, and BSB, where Tommy Bridewell won one race and Tom Sykes another. We can also add MotoAmerica, a series that Danilo Petrucci came close to conquering. What’s left? World Supersport, gosh. The red bike was considered the favourite, or deemed at least to have ‘an advantage’.  While it has less cylinders than its four and three-cylinder rivals, the 955cc engine irked Yamaha, Kawasaki, Triumph and MV Agusta. Needlessly.

Supersport 2022: podiums for the red bike but no wins

The Ducati rider who did best in the general standings was Nicolò Bulega, fourth with a total of 242 points, thanks also to nine podium finishes. This was the Aruba rider’s debut season in the production-derived middle class, and the team’s too, but while rider and team did well, a race win remained elusive.

It was a similar scenario for Althea and Federico Caricasulo. A strong fifth place finish for this independent team, thanks to five podiums and 222 points in all. But while Genesio Bevilacqua’s team put in a consistent performance, they too missed the highest step of the rostrum.

Further down, the very experienced Raffaele De Rosa, riding for Orelac and having switched from the four-cylinder Ninja to the red twin. The Italian was regularly up at the sharp end, but his last race win dates back to Mandalika 2021.

A ‘botched’ Panigale 955: how to find more balanced performance?

And so to the crux of the matter, in that Yamaha, Kawasaki, Triumph and MV Agusta all scored at least one win during the 2022 Supersport season. Ducati zero. Sure, the R6 inline four is a safe bet in the 600 class and the same applies to the "dated" but well behaved ZX-6R, while the 765 three-cylinder put in an interesting debut performance and the F3 800, also three-cylinder, made solid progress.

But why did the Panigale fail to win even one race? Was it down to the riders or teams? No, we don’t think so. If anything, it was more the fact that, accused of being (almost) a 1000cc, the Bologna twin suffered due to various regulation changes, made once the season was in full swing.

A change here, a touch there, adjustments above, adjustments below. If you think a production-derived bike is just a simple derivation of the standard bike then you’re wrong. The Supersport is not as sophisticated as a Superbike or MotoGP, but it is still prepped, balanced, tailored to suit the rider in the saddle. If changes are made to its engine performance, then it will be out of sync, because the rest of the vehicle needs to be tuned to suit the engine characteristics. The electronics, mechanics, suspension and every single detail require hours of tests and fine-tuning.