Marco Bezzecchi
Ducati enjoyed a clean sweep in the 2025 MotoGP season, as Marc Marquez won the riders’ title and the Borgo Panigale outfit sealed the teams’ and constructors’ crowns.
The Bologna Bullets have also now produced the winning bike in each of the past four years. Fabio Quartararo’s 2021 championship with Yamaha remains the most recent title won on a bike that was not made by Ducati, who have even taken every constructors’ title since 2020.
Ducati even won the 2025 constructors’ title after 15 of the 22 rounds at the Catalan Grand Prix. Two rounds later, Marquez won the 2025 MotoGP riders’ title in Japan and Ducati won the 2025 teams’ title in Indonesia in round 18, but the Spaniard’s injury overshadowed that.
It was clear from an early stage that Marquez would win the 2025 riders’ title, which the 32-year-old ultimately secured with five rounds to spare. The Ducati Desmosedici GP25 carried Marquez to his first title since 2019, to equal Valentino Rossi with seven premier class titles.
Carlo Pernat saw ‘concern’ on the faces of Ducati’s mechanics at the Valencia test
Marquez sustained a season-ending shoulder injury on the first lap of the Indonesian GP this October, which curtailed what may have been the most successful MotoGP season ever. He achieved 11 Grand Prix wins, 15 podiums and 14 Sprint wins from the 18 rounds he entered.
READ MORE: MotoGP 2025 Valencia test lap times, as Aprilia outpace Ducati
Marc Marquez on his Ducati future
But Carlo Pernat believes Aprilia have now arrived ready to rival Marquez and Ducati for the top honours in 2026. The Bologna Bullets’ mechanics even alarmed Pernat at the 2025 post-season Valencia test, as he saw “concern” on their faces after trialling their GP26 package.
“Ducati won’t be able to sleep soundly,” Pernat told MOW. “Aprilia have arrived. In fact, they haven’t just arrived, I have the impression they have also put their foot down.”
Pernat added: “The first is how Marc Marquez is doing. That arm has been through it all and as much as everyone tries to reassure him, his injury isn’t one to be overlooked, given the history he’s dealing with.
“Even watching the Ducati faces in Valencia, I thought I saw a certain amount of concern. I hope I’m wrong. Secondly, there’s the technical issue.
“The Desmosedici has reached its peak development, and when that happens, you risk compromising everything in an attempt to find something that allows you to squeeze it further. And the third is, as I said, the arrival of all the others and their potential.”
Carlo Pernat is not sure Marc Marquez is ‘enough’ for Ducati to beat Aprilia in 2026
Ducati team manager Davide Tardozzi found some reasons for optimism at the Valencia test, as developing the GP26 fell to Francesco Bagnaia, Nicolo Bulega, Alex Marquez and Fabio Di Giannantonio. Tardozzi feels Bagnaia “found his way again” after his nightmare year in 2025.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Aprilia from the MotoGP team’s riders to hierarchy
But Aprilia set the pace during the Valencia test with Trackhouse star Raul Fernandez setting a 1:29.373 ahead of works team star Marco Bezzecchi on a 1:29.400. Gresini’s Alex Marquez tested Ducati’s 2026 aero in the Valencia test and was the top Desmosedici with a 1:29.457.
Aprilia even ended the 2025 season strongly amid Marc Marquez’s injury-enforced absence, as Fernandez got his first MotoGP Grand Prix win in Australia and Bezzecchi won in Portugal and Valencia. Now, Pernat wonders if Marc will be enough for Ducati to beat Aprilia in 2026.
He added: “It’s true that if we look at the overall standings he finished second to another Ducati rider, but Alex Marquez was riding a GP24. And, judging by what we saw, I’m almost tempted to say that this year’s Aprilia RS-GP is a better bike than this year’s Desmosedici.
“Let’s be clear, Marc Marquez made the difference. Whether next year will be enough, however, I don’t know. And not for just one reason, at least three.”
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