Ducati face a permanent ‘issue’ with their MotoGP bikes, Luigi Dall’Igna ‘won’t allow’ one fix

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Ducati’s dominant MotoGP bike sometimes appears to have no faults, at least it did until they opted to homologate last year’s engine over a new one before the Thailand Grand Prix.

The development of their GP25 specification failed to perfect engine braking, and left Francesco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez opting for the older parts over the next two years.

An engine freeze as part of the concession system means that Ducati won’t be able to upgrade their engine before the arrival of new rules in 2027.

Team boss Luigi Dall’Igna was visibly excited after his team secured a one-three in the 2025 season-opener, including a victory on debut for their new Spanish rider.

Dall’Igna made his feelings about Marquez clear by kissing the number 93 in Thailand, a mark of respect for the six-time champion.

Bagnaia already faces a worrying scenario at Ducati with engineers starting to gravitate towards his teammate’s side of the garage. He won’t want to lose any support.

READ MORE: Marc Marquez ‘worries’ Mattia Pasini after what he heard Ducati rider say about Francesco Bagnaia

Ducati have a permanent ‘issue’ which Luigi Dall’Igna won’t allow one fix for

The Grand Prix of Thailand was a brutal introduction for the riders to the 2025 MotoGP campaign, after a long off-season.

Mat Oxley feared a shortened race due to temperatures nearing 40 degrees Celsius, which was a danger for the riders.

Some sustained painful burns from their bikes, and The Race’s Simon Patterson has said that keeping their bike cool has always been an issue for Ducati.

“If you go way back to pictures of the 2010 factory Ducati, it was the first ever bike we saw with wings,” he said.

“The point of the wings on that bike were not downforce, they were to direct air into the fairing to try and cool down the engine. The first place we ever saw wings for cooling, not for anything else. It’s permanently an issue.

Patterson also mentioned that Dall’Igna won’t allow holes to be drilled into parts just for extra airflow on the bike.

“You remember Ducati used to be very bad for it in the early days, you used to see the pictures of Capirossi with the front fairing drilled full of holes to try and allow a bit of airflow through. But again, it doesn’t work for aerodynamics, Gigi [Dall’Igna] won’t allow that.”

READ MORE: Keith Huewen explains why Francesco Bagnaia is already ‘cooked’ in Marc Marquez battle at Ducati

Was the Thailand Grand Prix an anomaly on the MotoGP calendar in 2025?

Some MotoGP riders have already spoken out to say that the Thai race shouldn’t be held at the same time of year in 2026.

Testing at the Buriram circuit was just two weeks ago, however there temperatures were around four to five degrees Celsius cooler.

Fabio Quartararo said the heat made things ‘worse’ and that shortening the vent by a few laps would have been good for the riders.

The Malaysian Grand Prix at the end of the season should see some fairly warm temperatures too, but there shouldn’t be anywhere quite as hot as Thailand was for the next 21 events.