Pecco Bagnaia an Aprilia “intruder”? The specter of a wall in the Ducati garage

Pecco Bagnaia finished the test in Thailand in fourth place with good feelings aboard the GP26. The Ducati rider will run his last MotoGP season in Ducati colors; from 2027 he will team up with Marco Bezzecchi at Aprilia. For the Piedmontese rider, there is talk of a four-year contract with the Noale manufacturer, possibly until the end of his career.

It was two days of nonstop work for Pecco Bagnaia, who said he now feels more relaxed. Credit also goes to the market rumors linking him to Aprilia. With a clear mind, he is ready to face this MotoGP season in the best physical and mental condition. "I have a great feeling, and now it’s time to fight, but I can say I’m happy. We worked well. The tests in Malaysia were important, but these are even more so considering what happened in 2025."

The time attack wasn’t a perfect lap, but he is close behind his teammate Marc Marquez. There were issues during the race simulation, but "these are things that can happen." The Ducati Desmosedici GP26 will surely suit him better than last year’s bike, which made him struggle so much. There are still technical aspects to refine; he’s missing "a bit of consistency and repeatability under braking; sometimes I can brake well, other times the bike starts moving, but that’s only because I enter the corner too fast."

Marco Bezzecchi lapped close to the two-time MotoGP champion at certain points. Trials ahead of the future deal with Noale? "There was a moment, at the start of my race simulation, when he was behind me, but in testing it’s just a coincidence. There are 22 riders and sometimes it happens." The fact is Bagnaia has decided to place full trust in Massimo Rivola’s Aprilia project, with which he has signed a four-year contract. The last rider to sign a four-year deal was Marc Marquez with Honda in 2020. Official confirmation will arrive in the coming days, with Pedro Acosta ready to take his place in the Ducati factory team.

On the second day of MotoGP testing in Thailand, divider panels appeared between Pecco and Marc. Some began to think of a wall in the garage, as happened in the past with Valentino Rossi at Yamaha. After all, the VR46 Academy pupil could bring valuable information about Ducati to Aprilia during the switch… A hypothesis promptly denied by team manager Davide Tardozzi. "Please, it happened because there are particular situations during testing. One side of the garage was working on the disassembled bike while the other rider was on track. It was simply to prevent people in the pit lane from seeing the bike. During the Grand Prix, we will not see any wall, absolutely."