After weeks of rumour and conjecture, it has been announced this morning that Aprilia racing boss Gigi Dall'Igna has defected to Ducati Corse general manager.

Speculation about the move first surfaced at Silverstone but the quietly-spoken Italian played them down. However, he replaces Bernahrd Gobmeier, who will go and do something else in the VW-Audi group. Paolo Ciabatti and Ernesto Marinelli, who oversees the Superbike effort, will report to Dall'Igna.

“Thanks to this appointment, we can look forward to the next racing season with renewed motivation. We are confident that the new Ducati Corse organisation, and a strategy even more focussed on technical development, will help us achieve our targets, ensuring that Ducati once again becomes a key player both in MotoGP and Superbike," said Ducati CEO Claudio Domenicali.

"I would like to personally thank Bernhard for his work during these past ten months, and wish Gigi a warm welcome. I am certain that his solid experience combined with our technology and R&D and the technical support supplied by the Audi/VW Group, will help us restore Ducati to the level of racing excellence it had in the very recent past.”