Ducati has a problem: Aprilia exposes the GP26's weak point

Is a single race weekend enough to overturn the MotoGP predictions? Up to the Sachsenring, Ducati and Marc Marquez seemed favored for the title chase, despite the lead being in the hands of Jorge Martin and Aprilia.

After the Silverstone GP, the Noale manufacturer has returned as the outright leader. In truth, the Desmosedici GP26 has shown it still has a few weak points, and it won’t be easy for Gigi Dall’Igna and his team to fix them.

What happened in Great Britain was much more than an Aprilia victory. In a championship as hard-fought as the 2026 MotoGP, a single race can decide an entire season. It could be a battle down to the final round, to the last point. Consequently, even a single finishing position could tip the balance of the World Championship. And just a small technical handicap can determine which bike is the best and most consistent.

At Silverstone, Raul Fernandez led a historic 1-2-3, ahead of Jorge Martin and Marco Bezzecchi. Ducati could do nothing against the dominance of the RE-SPs on this kind of track, marked by flowing corners and high-speed cornering. The best Ducati rider was Alex Marquez in fourth, while Marc Marquez had to settle for a disappointing seventh place.

Aprilia’s superiority at Silverstone was not a big surprise in the MotoGP paddock. The British circuit, fast and flowing, perfectly suits the characteristics of the RS-GP. But what is starting to worry Ducati is that every time they arrive at circuits of this type, the gap widens considerably.

It already happened at Assen, and it was repeated at Silverstone. When a track doesn’t play to the strengths of the GP26, the Red from Borgo Panigale ends up struggling. And not even a pure superstar like Marc Marquez can make up the technical gap. While Ducati remains top on circuits with hard acceleration and braking, Aprilia seems to have found a terrain where it’s practically unbeatable: fast corners and tracks where corner speed makes the difference.

The consequence is obvious: when the tires start to degrade, the RS-GP maintains its performance better, while Ducati suffers a more pronounced drop. Perhaps the most significant reflection of the weekend came from the VR46 garage. Fabio Di Giannantonio didn’t mince words after the latest MotoGP weekend. "At the moment we are the second-strongest team. The Aprilias are incredible. We knew they would be very strong here, but the gap was too big. We need to improve." Words that ‘Diggia’ could say without reservation, since he already has a contract with another manufacturer (KTM) for 2027–2028...

Marc Marquez preferred to take responsibility for his result, pointing to his still-precarious physical condition. "The bike was working well, and so were the tires. I just couldn’t find a way to go faster." However, the data is clear: his best lap was almost seven tenths slower than Raul Fernandez’s, a substantial gap by today’s MotoGP standards.

The good news for Ducati is that the Championship now heads to MotorLand Aragon, a circuit much better suited to the GP26’s characteristics and Marc Marquez’s riding style. The men in red know well that being first on “friendly” circuits is no longer enough. They will need to avoid a repeat of devastating weekends like Silverstone. But with the ongoing MotoGP rule revolution, it will be difficult to find solutions from now until the end of the year...

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