Ducati is considering taking a step back for the new MotoGP season: the possibility of racing with last year’s engine is on the horizon.
New engine or continue with the current one? This is the big question at Ducati. It’s a crucial decision, especially given the development freeze scheduled for 2026. Manufacturers without concessions – Ducati, Aprilia, and KTM – will have to face the upcoming season with the engine homologated this year, making the decision even more strategic.
Improving the Desmosedici GP24 was certainly a tough task, perhaps almost impossible. In the Sepang tests, the GP24 proved to be more reliable and offered more consistent performance. Taking a step back might seem like a defeat, but the real victory is the one achieved on the track with the fastest bike.
Here are the opinions of Davide Tardozzi and the two Ducati riders on the matter.
Davide Tardozzi’s words:
After the first day of testing in Buriram, the team manager of the Ducati Lenovo Team said: “For now, the decision hasn’t been made yet, but it seems like we will go with the 2024 engine. Tonight, Gigi and the engineers will make a decision. This is my feeling, but nothing has been decided yet. As we’ve already said, we will make this decision because it will be frozen for two years, and we don’t want to take risks. […]”
Marc Marquez’s words:
“Tomorrow we will have the last test, but it seems we will go in the direction of the 2024 engine. Let’s wait and see. Ducati will come tomorrow with a new program, but at the moment everyone is working very hard to figure out which one has the best pace. As I said, in Malaysia we had a good pace with the 2024 engine, so we have to be very, very sure that the 2025 engine can be better. It seems that the 2024 version works a little better and more consistently.”
Pecco Bagnaia’s words:
Bagnaia concludes: “We don’t want to take a huge risk by choosing a new engine. It’s true that it’s not so bad, but we don’t have enough time to tell for sure, so we’ll better off continuing to test tomorrow, but we’re leaning toward the 2024 engine.”
Photo: Davide Tardozzi, Marc Marquez
