We may be called Ducati and have completely dominated MotoGP for several years, but we have a lot of work to do during the test at Sepang, and Davide Tardozzi wouldn't say otherwise!
It may seem paradoxical, but even having crushed the premier class of Grand Prix for three years, the Borgo Panigale factory seems overloaded with work at the dawn of this 2025 season.
First, it is necessary to develop the Desmosedici GP25 that will be shared Marc Márquez, Francesco Bagnaia et Fabio DiGiannantonioThis process is far from unusual, but the areas explored are expanding from year to year, whether it is aerodynamics, electronics, the start device or even brakes, going far beyond the usual choices of engine or chassis specifications.
So all this is taking more and more time, and this 2025 off-season is under the additional pressure of seeing the engine that will be homologated in Thailand frozen for two years.
There is therefore no room for error on this subject, and it is of course on the engine that the attention of the men in red was drawn during the first day of the test (see here).
Davide Tardozzi, at the microphone of Sky Sports, also stated that the work was not yet finished in this regard, probably due toa small unexpected time-consuming problem mentioned by Marc Márquez.
“For now, it has not yet been definitively promoted, because it clearly has different characteristics in this regard. The 2025 calibration is not yet completely perfected while its power has been appreciated. But as always, this has to be combined with the chassis, the rider's riding style and the electronics of the bike, so we are still working on it. The final decision has not yet been made.”
On the first day, the shifting strategies of Marc Marquez (2nd) and and Francis Bagnaia (17th) were able to surprise, but the dashing Italian explained.
"So they share the work, but then they cross paths, in the sense that one starts on one side or the other, but at the end they cross paths and they're going to do exactly the same things, although at different times. But we want the same questions answered from both of them. The drivers and I keep saying, like in Barcelona, that they continue to have very similar opinions. Everyone will do everything, but we do it at different times."
In addition to the engine specifications, it will also be necessary to validate or not the new fairing, tested during the shakedown by Michele Pirro and made available to Marc Marquez this morning. And there, it doesn't seem to come to the forefront...
“It has been reasonably appreciated but has not been deliberated yet. We are taking our time because we will have the reconfirmations in Buriram and the final decisions will be made after the off-season. (We will try it) probably tomorrow, but even that is not certain because there have been changes in the test programme. I think and hope that we will do a test tomorrow with both drivers, but if not, it will be postponed to Buriram.”
As in Barcelona, the Ducati factory riders also tested the new Brembo calipers, and here again, there are pros and cons...
"We used the new Brembo calipers. They are more efficient, but a little bit more aggressive, so it will depend a lot on the rider's riding, so we will have to try them again. I think we will continue to try them tomorrow and then we will see."
Under these conditions, we understand that the times of the two official drivers are very far from being significant...
Davide Tardozzi Sepang Test
