DUCATI, in MotoGP, is in a funk. Of this, there is no denying.The hallowed Italian brand—its faithful even has a name; ducatisti—that clinched the MotoGP premier class world title in 2007 has won nada in the last two years. Those were two years when 2006 MotoGP world titlist Nicky Hayden and nine-time MotoGP world champion (seven in the top class) Valentino Rossi took to Ducati Corse’s race saddles. In 2012 all Ducati and Rossi have to show for are two, albeit hugely popular, podium finishes in Le Mans and Misano. Two weeks ago, at this season’s final MotoGP race in Valencia, Spain, Hayden and Rossi struggled in Saturday’s dry-weather qualifying sessions, and Hayden at the post-qualifying news briefing said the team was praying that rain would come to better Ducati’s chances on Sunday’s race. It did rain, but not enough to soak the Ricardo Tormo track, located on the outskirts of Valencia. Hayden retired from the race; Rossi rode a miserable one, and later that damp, gloomy afternoon, held his last news briefing as a rider for Ducati Corse.

On the Tuesday morning after the Gran Premio Valencia, Rossi, like many of the other riders, started the first testing session for MotoGP’s 2013 season. But at that time he was at the Yamaha paddock, about four places up the pit lane from Ducati’s garage. Rossi was in Yamaha leathers, his black, unmarked race bike (pre-season test bikes are traditionally painted matte black as they await the sponsor livery for next year’s grands prix) identified as his only by his signature, neon “46” number. Rossi is now back in Yamaha, a team in whuch he secured four of his premier world titles.

Meanwhile, Ducati has hired another Italian riding ace, Andrea Dovisioso, who finished a strong fourth in the rider’s standings this year, to take Rossi’s place. And surely, the 2013 season holds new promise for the team.

Besides Hayden—or having had Rossi—Ducati also has the backing of fuel and lubricants giant Shell. What Ferrari and Shell are in Formula One, Ducati and Shell are in MotoGP. Which means a really close, really tight collaboration that have been nurtured for years—a true technical partnership, in the words of the three companies.

This technical partnership involves various Shell oil and fuel personnel holding office at Ducati’s famous facilities in Bologna, Italy, where they participate in almost every aspect of developing the engines that would propel not just Ducati’s race bikes but the company’s production models as well. The partnership means a coterie of Shell people traveling with the Ducati Corse team in wherever corner of the planet MotoGP is held, constantly monitoring and even performing postmortems on the state of Shell’s produce and the effect they have on Ducatis. The partnership goes beyond technical, too, as the Shell and Ducati guys have developed affinities. By all considerations, Ducati Corse should be battling for the world championship crown, not landing a distant third this year, 220 points adrift from champion Honda.

And yet Ducati’s poor showing seems to matter not with motorcycle race fans, nor dim the luster of the Ducati brand—as do Rossi’s, winless streak and all.

In Valencia, Ducati Corse’s paddock and a trio of support trucks—as well as that of its Pramac Racing sister team—were parked next to the entrance to the media center, which in turn was flanked on the other side by the Repsol Honda team. Ducati sat right smack in the middle of the activities, whether on pit lane or the paddock, in contrast to the two Yamaha factory teams’ facilities up the pit lane.

Ducati Corse’s trucks, seemingly the most plentiful, were the flashiest. And this was not due to their rosso paintjobs only—Repsol Honda’s were rendered in blinding orange—and yet they got the most number of stares and megapixels. The team’s Carelli scooters grabbed more than their share of attention, too.

The same holds true for Ducati’s hospitality suite, a glitzy piece of Italian design that magically unfolds from truck containers, and which was never without a throng of onlookers. Unlike the suites of the other big teams—not shabby themselves—Ducati’s was without another structure fronting it, leaving it with a view and a clear, wide path to the media center. That made it easy for Hayden, Rossi and the rest of the Ducati people to routinely pop in, arriving aboard the team’s scooters. Oh, and did Hayden and Rossi constantly get mobbed, papped and generally adored wherever they went.

On the Tuesday testing sessions, on a soaking, windy day that saw the temperature dip to around 10 degrees Celsius, a large group of diehard race fans still trooped to the Valencia track, braving the icy downpours and the blowing wind at the grandstands. Visibly and audibly as enthusiastic as they have been in practice, qualifying and the race, in testing these fans never failed to announce the presence of someone or something special out on the track, whether this may be Hayden or a black Yamaha—who has “Vale,” as they yelled to him, on it.

Ducati may be short on achievements this past seasons, but what it certainly does not lack is moto love.