While the Spaniard and the reigning world champion face off in Barcelona for the world crown, the Italian team is enjoying its hegemony.
The MotoGP championship remains undecided until the end, two riders, Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia having to wait until the last round, this weekend in Barcelona, to find out which of the two will seize the world crown. Already last year, the Spaniard and the Italian arrived in Valencia, scene of the last Grand Prix of the season, separated by only 21 points in favor of Bagnaia. This time, it's Martin who approaches this final stage in Spain with a 24-point lead.
The two drivers have dominated the season by winning 13 of the 19 GPs contested so far with a clear advantage for «Pecco» Bagnaia: ten victories compared to only three for Martin, the Spaniard however showing himself to be more consistent with ten second places. The fact that the two rivals, who respect each other a lot, are riding the same bike has a lot to do with their duel at the finish. Bagnaia races for the Ducati factory team and Martin for Pramac, the Italian manufacturer's satellite team with identical machines.
Ducati has a large majority on the MotoGP starting grid with eight machines out of 22 – two for the factory team, two for Pramac, two for Gresini and two for VR46. Gresini and VR46 have bikes with last year's specifications but that hasn't stopped six-time world champion in the category Marc Marquez, who races for Gresini, from winning three GPs this season.
F1 revenues put to good use by Ducati
The domination exercised by the Borgo Panigale firm over MotoGP is overwhelming: in Thailand at the end of October, its motorcycles monopolized the first eight places in the sprint race contested on Saturday, unheard of, and the first four places in the championship are currently occupied by Ducati riders. Engineer Gigi Da'll Igna has mastered the subtleties of aerodynamics better than anyone else, applying ground effect recipes from Formula 1 to the motorcycle, allowing full use of the power of the V4 engine. of 1000cc.
Ducati has had a long journey through the desert between its first constructors' world title in 2007 and the next in 2020, the first of five in a row – including this year's which the Italian brand has already got into its pocket. Behind, Aprilia, another Italian brand, is managing to do well as shown by Maverick Vinales' victory at the start of the season at the United States Grand Prix. The Austrians of KTM can count on the talent of the young Spanish prodigy Pedro Acosta, 20 years old, starting this season in MotoGP, to climb into the leading pack but his inexperience makes him make numerous mistakes which have prevented him until now to achieve a victory.
Honda and Yamaha outdated
The Japanese brands, which dominated motorcycling's supreme category from 1974 to 2020, are now relegated to the peloton and have not won a GP since Spaniard Alex Rins' victory on Honda in the United States in 2023. To try to rebalance the forces, the MotoGP organizers have a system of «concessions»advantages in terms of testing and technical development that they can grant to manufacturers who are lagging behind others. Honda and Yamaha are taking advantage of this today and the brand with tuning forks will really need it for the development of its new V4 engine on which it is counting heavily to bring the Frenchman Fabio Quartararo, world champion in 2021, to the top.
This leveling due to the domination of the Ducatis means that it is more the talent of the drivers which makes the difference, all using the same Michelin tires. Bagnaia, who has been racing for the Italian brand in MotoGP since 2019, won the world title in 2022 and 2023 but each time had to wait until the last race to take the crown. Next year, if Martin joins Aprilia, Bagnaia will see him arrive alongside him within the Ducati factory team, none other than Marc Marquez… for a new duel at the finish?
