Tune in on September 2, 2022 to know for sure.
It’s September 1, 2022, and you know what that means? Tomorrow is September 2, which is when Ducati World Première 2023 kicks off its first episode! The title of Episode 1 for this year is The Unexpected, and the livestream will take place on Ducati’s YouTube channel at 6:30 p.m. Central European Standard Time (which is 12:30 p.m. EST).
The event will take place live at the Marco Simoncelli World Circuit in Misano Adriatico, as part of the 2022 MotoGP World Championship weekend at Misano. According to Ducati, “the protagonist of this first appointment from the new season of the web series is a very special Ducati that combines exclusivity, sporty attitude and charm.”
As usual, Ducati has also provided a teaser image to go along with its digital “save the date” card to remind us all to tune in tomorrow. It’s not as deeply shrouded in mystery as some images it’s used to tease World Première events in the past—and indeed, Dennis Chung over at Motorcycle.com got out the magnifying glass and has cracked the code already.
What appears to be the case here is an announcement of a Ducati Streetfighter V4 Lamborghini Huracán STO-related model, which will probably also be limited edition in nature. Both the distinct STO logo on the piece of carbon fiber bodywork in the image, as well as the colors used, point strongly toward the Lamborghini Huracán STO connection. Playing with the provided image in Photoshop points another finger pretty convincingly at the Streetfighter V4.
How unexpected is a collaboration like this? Not very, if you’re aware that Ducati and Lamborghini share the same parent company in the Audi Group. It was also only two years ago, in 2020, when Ducati first unveiled the Diavel 1260 Lamborghini special edition, inspired by the extremely limited-edition Lamborghini Siàn FKP 37. (Of course, we know that 2020 was a bit of a blur, so you can be forgiven if that date and/or introduction slipped your mind.)
With that special edition Diavel and Siàn FKP 37 tie-in, the limited-edition Lambo run only included 63 cars—all numbered, of course. Ducati’s corresponding Diavel was also limited and numbered, but they upped that magic number to 630 units worldwide—which is certainly an order of magnitude more generous.
What could this mean for the Huracán STO Streetfighter V4? Since the Huracán STO isn’t a super-limited-edition car, it stands to reason that the corresponding Streetfighter V4 might not have such a tight restriction on production numbers, either. This is, of course, only speculation—but at least we won’t have long to wait to find out. Be sure to tune in on September 2, 2022 if your interest is piqued.