– With second (Fabio Di Giannantonio), third (Francesco Bagnaia) and fourth (Alex Marquez) places, Ducati recorded a successful training day for the French Grand Prix on the one hand. On the other hand, world champion Marc Marquez missed direct entry to Q2 as 13th.
Read more WRC Rally Portugal 2026: Ogier leads after Fourmaux drama on Friday
When Marc Marquez started his last qualifying attempt, it was precisely his teammate Bagnaia who caused yellow flags with a crash in turn 6. Marc Marquez then aborted his lap.
With his ideal sector best times, he would theoretically have qualified for Q2 as ninth. “The thing is,” explains the Spaniard, “that I still don’t have this speed. I was in the range between fifth and tenth place.”
“I was there, but I couldn’t complete the lap cleanly. The motorcycle works quite well. It looks like I have a bit more difficulty in qualifying than in race pace.”
Marc Marquez knows where the problem lies: “I have some difficulties with the feeling for the front wheel, but I think that is more due to my riding style. I have to change some things to improve in this area.”
He also emphasized that apart from the Thailand weekend, he has never been the fastest Ducati rider this season. In Le Mans, he stated that he could have the same technical package as last year.
“It’s true: When I compare my lap times, I am significantly slower. If we wanted, we could have more or less the same motorcycle. I remain calm in this regard and continue to work in the garage.”
“I have to try to improve without making crazy changes to the motorcycle. Just ride and find confidence,” says the reigning MotoGP world champion. Nevertheless, Ducati made changes to the fairing.
Why Marc Marquez rides a different fairing
Originally, all six Ducati riders started the season with the 2024 fairing. Now the side fairings were swapped on the four GP26 machines – the winglets remained the same.
Marc Marquez was fitted with the 2025 side fairing, while Alex Marquez and Fabio Di Giannantonio homologated the new 2026 side fairing for the first time. Bagnaia also tried this new side fairing.
“We are able,” says team manager Davide Tardozzi to MotoGP.com, “to respond to the wishes of each rider. That is something Ducati and Gigi [Dall’Igna] absolutely have to do.”
“They have to listen to every rider, whether factory or satellite rider, and try to give them the best.” Because every rider can assemble their package from a wealth of material.
Marc Marquez explains the different aerodynamic approaches as follows: “It is a technical decision together with Ducati. Ultimately, it goes in the same direction as the fairing they homologate.”
Read more A Mercedes-AMG GT3 made from 5,466 pieces: The building block experiment
“But the technicians think that compared to ‘Diggia’, ‘Pecco’ and Alex, I have different body measurements. They are much taller, and because of my posture, they believe this is the right fairing for me.”
“It serves the same purpose as the other one. Ultimately, the alignment on the motorcycle remains the same.” Bagnaia recognized a small improvement with the new fairing, which was also confirmed in Le Mans after the Jerez test.
“Things were already going well, and with this fairing, I felt a little better. So that’s positive. However, I destroyed it [in the crash], so let’s hope it will be available again tomorrow.”
Di Giannantonio does not want to commit on aero
Bagnaia admitted, however, that he would not use the new side fairing in the rain. Di Giannantonio is basically still unsure whether he will continue with the new fairing.
The VR46 rider explains that aerodynamics strongly affect the motorcycle: “It’s not so easy to ride fast with new parts or a changed character of the motorcycle. But we managed that.”
Where does the new side fairing help? “It’s not so clear that it helps me,” Di Giannantonio answers this question. “If you look closely, I mounted it, removed it again, and then mounted it again.”
“We are still analyzing it. The thing is: You install new parts and improve in some areas, but feel less comfortable in others. Sometimes you could improve overall if you left the parts on the motorcycle.”
“So it’s a really delicate phase. It’s really difficult. This has nothing to do with wanting to hide something, but it’s really hard to say: Yes, in this area it brings an improvement.”
“With every package we bring to the track, there is a yes in some areas and a no in others. So it is really a very delicate matter. Therefore, I don’t yet know if we will have the time tomorrow to confirm this.”
“Or if we might take a step back and save it for the upcoming races.” Nevertheless, especially Di Giannantonio and Alex Marquez left a strong impression in Friday’s training.
Jerez winner Alex Marquez emphasizes, however, that the conditions in Le Mans are not as favorable for Ducati as recently in Spain: “We are not at the level of Jerez, because if we were as far as in Jerez, that would be fantastic – but we are not there. Still, it is true that we are not doing badly.”
Read more «Will take a few months»: Why Sainz is slowing down the Williams euphoria
