MotoGP has reached record attendances and record speeds (now a dizzying 227mph) but as the 75-year-old series revs up at the Lusail International Circuit in Qatar this weekend, an internal struggle could disrupt the current powerhouse in the sport.
Ducati enters the 21-round race as champion for the second time in a row, thanks to Pecco Bagnaia, and is looking to extend its ‘Triple Crown’ status (rider, team and constructors’ championship). The Bologna-based MotoGP firm has been named the best manufacturer of the last four seasons, largely thanks to technical superiority involving four teams and eight riders from the 22-strong grid.
For all their strength in numbers and engineering prowess – they’ve won 17 of 20 races in 2023 with six of their eight riders, another record for a brand – Ducati have a potentially very hot card on their hands for 2024. Bagnaia is expected to arrive. He will continue his duel with Jorge Martin in 2023; The spiky Spaniard has the same equipment as the champion but is part of the satellite Pramac squad and has been ruled out of being in the factory squad alongside Bagnaia in 2023.
There is also ‘the other Spaniard’. Eight-time world champion Marc Marquez has caused one of the biggest shocks since Valentino Rossi left Honda for Yamaha two decades ago, prematurely ending a six-trophy-winning 11-year relationship with HRC. Marquez chose to leave unrivaled Repsol Honda to join another Ducati satellite team, Gresini Racing, and run Bagnaia’s 2023 car.
Ducati has assembled a force that includes the best rider with its technology in Bagnaia, the toughest competitor of 2023 in Martin and now arguably the best motorcycle racer of all time. How they mix and digest this cocktail of speed and ego will test their resolve as tacticians. The fact that many key technicians go to KTM and Yamaha doesn’t make matters any easier; Ducati Corse’s sporting director Paolo Ciabatti, the man who helped create the grand scheme of bikes and contracts, left the program during the winter to head up the company’s new off-road team. section.
Bagnaia, 27, from Turin, signed a new two-year deal with the Lenovo factory team last week, taking his tenure at Ducati to a total of eight seasons with the red. He led pre-season testing in Malaysia and Qatar, setting lap records at Sepang and Lusail. “We were all in the same direction, I wanted Ducati, Ducati wanted me, so it’s something that’s coming together,” he said on the eve of round one in Lusail on Thursday. “We are here to fight and discover who the real opponent will be. So let’s see,” he added of the looming possibility of the Martin/Marquez threat.
There were rumors at the end of 2023 that Martin was unhappy with his situation at Ducati. He insisted in Qatar that his preference was to remain on the Desmosedici bike but replace Bagnaia’s teammate Enea Bastianini for 2025.
“I think I’m not in the best possible seat at the moment, otherwise I would have signed a contract with the Ducati factory for two more seasons.” [team]But it’s not my fault. “They know what I want… but for now I feel great here.”
All but four drivers face contract decisions for 2025. Martin is near the top of the market and has never been in a better position to make claims.
Then there is Marquez. The 31-year-old led the accident charts in 2023 and has not won a grand prix for over a year as he has suffered constant injury and frustration, and four operations on a broken right arm in 2020 meant Honda were left behind by rivals.
Now, despite the potential of the best bike with the best rider, the Catalan insists he needs time to get used to Ducati’s idiosyncrasies and its limits. “I feel comfortable but I’m not ready to fight for the podium, I’m not ready to fight for victory,” he said modestly in Lusail on Thursday.
Ducati has bolstered its own stock and nullified some of the competition by adding Marquez to its roster, but what if Marquez starts using an old bike to rustle up the Bagnaia/Martin dynamic?
Marquez claims he has the support of Ducati management regardless of the outcome. Ducati explained the reason for sacrificing a rumored €18 million annual contract for 2024 to participate in satellite work: “If you don’t feel the support, you won’t make the decision.”
“It’s true that I’m on the Gresini team. It’s true that I’m riding the 2023 bike, but that’s something I already know. I’ve always had great respect and that was important for my confidence and still is.”
Full coverage of the 2024 MotoGP season can be seen on TNT Sports. British Grand Prix It will take place at Silverstone on 2-4 August