No, This is the "90%" New Ducati Desmosedici GP12

You may have been misled by some eager journalists today and yesterday, if you saw a Ducati Corse livery-clad Ducati Desmosedici GP12 that some sites were passing off as the first shots of the “90% new” GP12. With the alleged new GP12 looking surprisingly similar to the aluminum-framed “GP0” that was tested at Valencia, Valentino Rossi’s mechanic has now Alex Briggs confirmed that the photos taken were not of the all new “GP12 Phoenix” that the factory team will race this season. While the Ducati lords can taketh away, they can also giveth, and Valentino Rossi himself has posted the first photo of the factory Desmosedici GP12, and the bike is clearly different.

Of course the changes everyone has been talking aboutfor the past months about are still hidden underneath the factory Desmosedici’s clothing, as Ducati has been able to adjust the GP12’s weight distribution on this new iteration. Though it’s likely to have remain unchanged, there has been considerable speculation that Ducati Corse’s Desmosedici GP12 will have a narrower cylinder angle, and depart from the 90° arrangement.

You’ll note the use of the words “factory team Desmosedici” as the satellite Ducati squads will use bikes based off the GP0 design, which debuted at the Valencia test last year. Karel Abraham has already debuted AB Cardion’s version of the satellite GP12, and while it sports an aluminum perimeter-style frame (rumored to have been built by British engineering firm FTR), we can see now that it varies slightly from the chassis the factory team is using at Sepang.

Photos That Are Not of the Ducati Desmosedici GP12 “Phoenix”: