Lenovo Signs as Title Partner of Ducati MotoGP Team

(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Today, Lenovo and Ducati are announcing Lenovo as the Title Partner of the Ducati MotoGP Team and unveiling the new “Ducati Lenovo Team” name effective immediately. The announcement builds on Lenovo’s three-year key technology partnership with Ducati and sees the new three-year partnership attests to the growing significance of advanced hardware technology in powering extensive data analytics as well as artificial intelligence (AI) and smart software solutions in the world of motorbike racing. As an official technology partner since 2018, Lenovo has enabled Ducati engineers and designers’ rapid adoption of algorithms and racing bike technology for both race and road bikes.

“The global motorsports market is expected to continue to grow by 10 percent annually through 2025,¹ driven in part by the role of IT in the increasingly data-driven world of motorbike racing. This is why Lenovo and Ducati—two brands that share the core values of high speed, powerful performance and relentless innovation—have chosen to elevate their partnership to its highest level,” said Luca Rossi, Senior Vice President of Lenovo. “Through Lenovo’s mission to enable intelligent transformation, we look forward to taking our technology integration to new heights and empowering Ducati’s racing team to extend MotoGP’s significance for years to come.”

Claudio Domenicali, CEO of Ducati Motor Holding, said, "It is always a great emotion to start a new racing season, which as always we face with dedication and incredible passion, driven by the support of the Ducatisti all over the world. We start strong after winning the Constructors' World Title last year, despite the complexities that have forced us to overcome obstacles and situations that we have never experienced before. In 2021 there are many novelties, starting with the riders: Jack Miller and Pecco Bagnaia. They are now the young riders of our official team after gaining experience with the Pramac Racing Team. This year Lenovo, which has already accompanied us since 2018, becomes the new Title Partner of the Ducati Lenovo Team. Together with our factory team's riders, we also have Ducati's MotoGP riders Johann Zarco and three of the best talents coming from Moto2, Enea Bastianini, Luca Marini and Jorge Martin. They will be a very young and future-oriented presence in the championship. We look forward to the start of the 2021 season on 28th March in Qatar and as always #ForzaDucati."

The Ducati brand is known around the world as the purest expression of technology, design and passion for motorsports, and this partnership affords Lenovo significant visibility at the international level. The new partnership stands to bolster Lenovo’s status as a global technology leader in enabling Ducati to drive faster, smarter and better performance. The Ducati MotoGP Team has a long and storied legacy of high speed, success and competitive excellence; and Lenovo is proud of its continuing role in this great story.

In the coming few years, Lenovo and Ducati are committed to enabling even smarter remote collaboration and performance workspaces focused on speed, flexibility and mobility. The two brands are developing research and development plans to implement a virtual desktop infrastructure that provides consistently high-performance levels for the majority of Ducati engineers working remotely. Additionally, Lenovo and Ducati are exploring augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) technologies for motorbike mechanics in the future.

As Ducati’s premier technology partner since 2018, Lenovo’s award-winning PCs, tablets and high-performance servers have introduced a host of competitive technological advantages to Ducati’s racers, motorcycles and performance engines. Analytics and simulations now run in MotoGP using Lenovo’s compact-sized and rugged ThinkSystem™ SE350 edge server to process and analyze data at its source. With this upgraded processing power, Ducati engineers are able to track simulations with AI and machine learning and develop even safer strategies on the track, including better management of tire consumption. Technicians used the rugged, ultra-thin Lenovo ThinkPad™ P1 mobile workstation laptops to pull and analyze data directly from the bikes. Engineers then used ThinkPad laptops at the garage to simulate possible bike configurations – improving efficiency by 25 percent and reducing decision-making time by 35 percent.

Lenovo designed and implemented a high-performance computing (HPC) cluster based on ThinkSystem SD530, SR630 and SR650 servers. This new HPC environment helps reduce overall footprint by 20:1 and allows Ducati to run aerodynamic and fluid dynamic modelling workloads at racing speed—empowering engineers to develop new superbikes faster while maintaining the highest quality and safety standards.

Other Lenovo devices deployed by Ducati include ThinkPad P53 mobile workstations for designing road bikes and race bikes; the ThinkPad X1 Tablet by area directors for their portability; and an assortment of popular Yoga™ premium laptops for taking notes in racing debriefs with the riders. In 2020, Lenovo’s partnership with Ducati also brought co-branded devices to market, such as the Lenovo Ducati 5, a crossover limited edition laptop with Ducati Corse design elements tailored for the most ardent Ducati fans.

For more information on Lenovo technologies, visit Lenovo ThinkPad, Lenovo Workstations, Lenovo Edge Computing, Lenovo Yoga, Lenovo Ducati 5.

About Lenovo

Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) is a US$50 billion Fortune Global 500 company, with 63,000 employees and operating in 180 markets around the world. Focused on a bold vision to deliver smarter technology for all, we are developing world-changing technologies that create a more inclusive, trustworthy and sustainable digital society. By designing, engineering and building the world’s most complete portfolio of smart devices and infrastructure, we are also leading an Intelligent Transformation – to create better experiences and opportunities for millions of customers around the world. To find out more visit https://www.lenovo.com, follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Weibo and read about the latest news via our StoryHub.

About Ducati

Founded in 1926, since 1946 Ducati has been manufacturing sport-inspired motorcycles characterised by high-performance engines, innovative design and cutting-edge technology. Ducati factory is located in Bologna’s Borgo Panigale district. The model range covers several market segments with the following families: Diavel, XDiavel, Hypermotard, Monster, Multistrada, SuperSport, Panigale and Streetfighter. In 2015, Ducati presented the Ducati Scrambler: a new brand made of bikes, accessories and apparel that stands out for its creativity and self-expression. In 2020 Ducati unveiled the Multistrada V4, the world's first motorcycle equipped with front and rear radar, which with its technology marks a new milestone for the world of two wheels. Ducati iconic motorcycles, together with an extensive range of bike accessories and technical and lifestyle apparel, are distributed in 90 countries worldwide. In 2020 Ducati delivered 48,042 bikes to customers. Ducati competes in both MotoGP and Superbike World Championships. The Company has been racing in the MotoGP category since 2003 and has won the Constructors' World Title in 2020. Furthermore, Ducati was World Champion in the 2007 season, winning both Constructors' and Riders' Title. In Superbike, Ducati has won 17 Manufacturer's Titles and 14 Rider's Titles.

¹ Based on MarketWatch’s Motorsports Market Report synopsis published December 2020

LENOVO, YOGA, THINKPAD and THINKSYSTEM are trademarks of Lenovo. DUCATI is a trademark of Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A. MOTOGP is a trademark of Dorna Sports, S.L. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. ©2021, Lenovo Group Limited.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210209005819/en/