What Ducati engineers told media ‘off the record’ about their MotoGP bike before Marc Marquez joined

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Ducati have every reason to be excited about the 2025 season as they clearly possess the fastest bike in MotoGP currently.

A two-year engine freeze as part of the concessions system will also make it tricky for both KTM and Aprilia to close the gap to them before the new MotoGP regulations in 2027.

Ducati were imperious during the first race of the season, winning the Grand Prix of Thailand comfortably with three of their bikes on the podium.

New rider Marc Marquez enjoyed a stellar debut by taking wins in both the sprint and main races. He now sits eight points clear over brother Alex at the top of the riders’ championship.

Marquez made a surprise admission about Ducati after the race in Thailand, revealing that he felt slow on his bike.

Teammate Francesco Bagnaia was ‘perplexed’ by Marquez’s strategy and how easily he was able to manipulate the race. It could be a sign of just how dominant both bike and rider are currently.

READ MORE: Francesco Bagnaia reveals his ‘pact’ with Marc Marquez after Ducati formed MotoGP’s power couple

Ducati told media ‘off the record’ that GP24 bike was very different to GP23

The art of competition involves secrecy and giving as little away to your rivals as possible. When leading with as much of an advantage as Ducati has over the last few seasons, they want to gatekeep as much as possible.

Ducati failed to perfect the ‘very delicate’ engine braking with their new GP25 during pre-season testing. It has forced them to revert to their GP24 engine for the next two years.

The GP24 is an excellent bike and set the standard last season. Ducati engineers knew this when it was released but chose to downplay its differences compared to the GP23 at the time.

Alberto Gomez reports that only insiders were informed off the record of how different their GP24 specification was from its predecessor last year.

“Face to face to the microphones and to the media, the crew chief of Ducati said that the bike from 23′ to 24′ was very close and there were a lot of people who bought it outside in other podcasts and other places,” he said.

“Those of us who were with some others, all told you on closed microphone and off the record, they told you ‘Hey this, come on, you can’t say it but these two bikes have a difference like between a Ducati and a Yamaha.’ That was the reality.”

READ MORE: Ducati insiders are surprised by the similarity they’ve seen between Marc Marquez and Valentino Rossi

Michele Pirro missed key Ducati issue that Francesco Bagnaia immediately felt

Ducati had little time to assess the suitability of their GP25 package before having to make a massive decision over whether to keep it for the next two years.

Three days at Sepang, followed by two more in Buriram, saw them draw to the conclusion that they would be able to extract more performance and had more trust in their older specification.

Test rider Michele Pirro rode the bike and delivered a positive assessment of the machinery, however, he failed to spot one thing.

Pirro missed a key Ducati issue Bagnaia immediately felt with a far from optimal engine braking setup. Despite trying to find a solution, they weren’t comfortable enough to move forward with their upgrades.

They invested a lot of time and effort into the GP25, which would have made it a little disappointing to reject, but they won’t mind if they continue to win every week.