Marco Bezzecchi
Jorge Lorenzo believes Ducati have “definitely” taken a step forward with their 2026 MotoGP bike after watching Marc Marquez and co ride the GP26 at the Sepang test.
The Borgo Panigale brand threw down the gauntlet in Malaysia this week, as Ducati set their stall in search of a seventh successive constructors’ title. A Ducati bike has also powered the riders’ champion in each of the last four years, including last season as Marquez dominated.
Marquez won the 2025 MotoGP riders’ title with a record five rounds to spare, having taken 11 Grand Prix wins through the first 17/22 rounds. He even left Japan with a 201-point lead atop the riders’ standings, before then sustaining a shoulder injury in Indonesia in round 18.
Another Ducati champion may now await in the 2026 MotoGP season, as Alex Marquez set the outright fastest lap time during this week’s three-day test in Malaysia. The Gresini rider posted a 1:56.402 on day three, plus the best 10-lap average in the Sprint Race simulations.
Alex Marquez tops the final day of the Sepang test! Are you expecting any changes to this order in Buriram? 🤔
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Jorge Lorenzo believes the cornering stability of the Ducati GP26 is a ‘significant’ advantage
The 2026 Sepang test was Marc Marquez’s first time on Ducati’s MotoGP bike since needing surgery on his shoulder last October. And it appears that Ducati’s work during the winter has paid off, as Marquez thinks Ducati’s 2026 bike “feels better” than the GP25 he used in 2025.
READ MORE: Marc Marquez’s first MotoGP title with Ducati was defined by five moments
Three-time MotoGP champion Lorenzo also thinks Ducati have made progress after seeing what the Marquez brothers, works ace Francesco Bagnaia and VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio produced in Sepang. In particular, how stable the Ducati GP26 was in the corners stood out.
“Ducati have definitely taken a step forward,” he said, via SPEEDWEEK. “The bike handles extremely smoothly in the corners. The Ducati feels very well-controlled, even when exiting corners. Everything is extremely smooth, both at the apex and when the bike straightens up.
“Other bikes feel significantly more nervous in those situations. The ride height device at the rear for the start has also been modified. The winglets will soon be as large as those used in Formula 1. This also ensures that the front of the bike is very stable, and wheelies are rare.”
All five Ducati riders ranked among the top seven fastest laps at the 2026 Sepang test
What jumps out from the race simulations? ⏱️
The pace that Alex Marquez, Bagnaia and Marc Marquez managed in Malaysia with Ducati’s 2026 bike frightened their rivals. KTM rider Pedro Acosta has called Ducati’s pace in Sepang “scary”, and Aprilia CEO Massimo Rivola believes they can “go home” given Bagnaia’s speed.
Aprilia rider Marco Bezzecchi was able to get amongst Ducati’s dominance atop the overall timesheets at the Sepang test this week. The 27-year-old set the second-fastest lap time at 1:56.526, and Honda’s Joan Mir ranked fifth, but five Ducati riders ranked in the top seven.
VR46’s Franco Morbidelli ranked seventh with his Ducati GP25, which made the Italian the slowest Ducati rider with Gresini ace Fermin Aldeguer absent. Gresini chose not to name a substitute in Sepang, but Aldeguer will miss the start of the 2026 season due to his injury.
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