Francesco Bagnaia now plans to ‘ask’ Marc Marquez for his help at the Italian Grand Prix

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Francesco Bagnaia may have a chance to put a dent in Marc Marquez’s championship lead, with the home hero the faster Ducati rider in practice for the Italian Grand Prix.

Just 0.036 seconds may have separated the Ducati duo during Friday’s timed pre-qualifying practice session at Mugello. But, crucially, it was Bagnaia leading the Borgo Panigale natives’ endeavours behind KTM Tech3 racer Maverick Vinales. Marquez had to settle for third place.

Bagnaia will now hope to maintain his, albeit marginal, advantage over Marquez throughout the Italian GP weekend. The 28-year-old has hit his home round a whopping 93 points shy of the Spaniard in the riders’ standings, with Alex Marquez of Gresini even 61 points better off.

Francesco Bagnaia will ‘ask’ Marc Marquez for his feedback on Ducati’s new fairing at Mugello

Ducati general manager Luigi Dall’Igna is ‘convinced’ Bagnaia can ‘do well’ during the rest of the 2025 MotoGP season, despite being dominated by Marquez since the six-time champion joined this year. The 32-year-old has won four Grands Prix and seven Sprints in eight rounds.

But Bagnaia will not be able to use Ducati’s new fairing at Mugello, as he shelved testing the upgrade to focus on finding a suitable set-up for the Italian GP. The Bologna Bullets gave him and VR46 rider Fabio Di Giannantonio their latest fairing, but they only trialled it during FP1.

READ MORE: Everything to know about Francesco Bagnaia from net worth to race number

Marquez also ran Ducati’s new fairing during the timed practice session on Friday afternoon, as he set a 1:44.780 compared to Bagnaia’s 1:44.744 to both get automatic Q2 places at the Italian GP. So, having parked testing it, Bagnaia sought to ‘ask’ Marquez for his feedback.

Bagnaia said, via quotes by GPOne: “I mounted it, but I didn’t test it because we focused on the set-up to square the circle and we put the test aside. I know Marc and Di Giannantonio have tried it. I’ll ask them about it this evening.”

What has Marc Marquez said about Ducati’s new fairing at the Italian Grand Prix?

Despite all three Ducati riders with the Desmosedici GP25 testing the Borgo Panigale crew’s new fairing over practice for the 2025 Italian GP on Friday, neither Bagnaia nor Marquez are planning to run the upgraded part during qualifying, the Sprint or the Grand Prix at Mugello.

READ MORE: Everything to know about Marc Marquez from net worth to girlfriend

Like Bagnaia, Marquez feels Ducati left it too late to test the new fairing to work it into their set-up that the six-time premier class champion will utilise at Mugello. But the Spaniard can still answer Bagnaia’s request after Marquez had Ducati’s new fairing during the Aragon test.

“We homologated the new fairing and I tested it on a ride during practice,” Marquez noted, via TodoCircuito. “As we saw in Aragon, it changes the balance of the bike a little.

“We tested it too late this weekend to use it now. Today, the priority was to find a good balance on the bike, so I didn’t use it much. We’ll test it again in the upcoming races.”

Marquez was thought to have felt some progress with Ducati’s new fairing at the Aragon in-season test. But he campaigned for the Bologna Bullets to introduce the new part slowly, in contrast to Bagnaia who wanted Ducati to expedite its introduction ahead of the Italian GP.