Ducati ensures a fair duel between Jorge Martín and Bagnaia

Ducati sets the pace in current motorcycling, and its prototype is so superior that the four riders still mathematically able to win the premier class title ride one of the two versions of the powerful Desmosedici GP. The most desired, this year's GP24, is provided to the two official team riders, Pecco Bagnaia and Enea Bastianini, as well as Jorge Martín, who races with top-notch material in the Pramac Racing satellite team. Meanwhile, Marc Márquez has last year's version, the GP23, very competitive but a step behind in mechanical evolution.

Although mathematics say the championship is a matter of four, in practice, the duel is between two, Martín and Bagnaia. Both are reenacting the head-to-head they already starred in 2023, even tighter this time, and back then the title wasn't decided until the last Sunday in Valencia. But if then, the Italian had a wide lead that the Spaniard cut down in the last third of the championship; this season, equality has been the norm from day one, and although Martín has almost always been ahead, the margin has been very narrow.

It would be normal for the MotoGP crown to be decided once more in Valencia. In fact, it would be desirable for the organizer and the televisions, which pay part of the party. A conclusion in the last race in prime time, instead of the untimely hours for the European audience following the current Asia-Pacific tour over coffee. Although some think the title has been decided weeks ago in favor of Bagnaia, due to the fact that Jorge Martín will change colors next year.

The dark hand some want to see in Ducati has never been such. Last year, there was already that supposed favoritism of Bagnaia over Martín because he was Italian and raced for the official team. Then the argument was that the brand would not allow a private team to beat the factory. And reality showed that until the last Sunday of the season, the Spaniard kept his options intact.

This year, Martín's abrupt departure to Aprilia for the next two seasons added more fuel to the fire. The Bologna leadership chose Márquez to wear official red, leaving the San Sebastián de los Reyes rider out in the cold, who sought his life outside the Ducati environment. How could they allow him to take the number 1 to another factory?

"Those who say we won't let Jorge Martín win don't know my history," claimed Gigi Dall'Igna, the top responsible for Ducati's MotoGP project and father of the current DesmosediciGP saga, in an interview with the Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport, where he assured that the brand would not interfere in the duel their riders would have on the track. "This is a sport, and the right thing is for the best rider to win. I think it's significant that we haven't introduced more technical innovations, avoiding any rider receiving preferential treatment over the other."

Once again, the facts prove Ducati right. In the past Misano test held in September, Bagnaia tested the first prototype of the 2025 chassis and loved it (logically, since Martín will not be at Ducati, he doesn't test new features for the next season). The Italian rider asked to race with that piece in the final stretch of the season, and the factory's response was blunt. Either everyone, or no one. And the chassis was packed back to Bologna.

"If they wanted to help me, since Misano I could have had something better than our current package, but as it wasn't ready for the four GP24 riders, we are not using it. It's the most correct thing and what Gigi has always made clear. Providing the same material to all teams is the strategy that has placed Ducati in the position it is in, and nothing will change until Valencia," Pecco Bagnaia answered last Thursday in a press conference when asked if Ducati would influence the final result.

This time, the question wasn't asked by a journalist, but by the rookie Pedro Acosta, who added some spice to the duel for the MotoGP crown. Next to the politically correct Bagnaia, Martín left the door open to speculation: "I understand that if they ask this question, it's because they think so. On my part, that's something I can't control, so I'm not going to focus on that but on what I can control, which is riding at one hundred percent, and I hope it won't be the case." A debate that, for better or worse, will be in the air until the MotoGP title is resolved in Valencia... or before.