Ducati takes its cue from Aprilia: Marc Marquez praises new aero offensive

New aerodynamic elements on the swingarm of his Ducati Desmosedici helped Marc Márquez secure third place at Phillip Island on Friday. In the MotoGP qualifying session, the defending champion was thus the only rider to break into the top five amongst the four Aprilia riders. The new components are clearly reminiscent of the solution used by their Italian rivals from Noale.

Marquez did not want to put a specific figure on the time gain after the first day of practice. However, he regarded the fact that he kept the parts on the bike as a useful starting point for further work.

“I can’t say much about it. I left them on the bike because they didn’t make me feel any worse. If you try new things and they aren’t any worse, then that means they could lead to an improvement in the future. We need to understand the situation even better,” explained the Ducati factory rider.

Ducati is fine-tuning the Desmosedici and making Marquez happy

For Marquez, the signal from the racing department is also important. Ducati is continuing to work on the Desmosedici in the ongoing title fight, rather than settling for the existing package. “What’s important to me is that Ducati is working hard and giving it their all. We’ve still got five races to go and they’re continuing to bring new things so that we can fight for the championship,” emphasised the Spaniard.

The noticeable focus on Aprilia is also striking because, under Luigi Dall’Igna, Ducati itself drove forward numerous technical developments over the years that the competition then followed. Marquez sees no contradiction in this. For him, it is part of competition to examine the successful approaches of others and use them to make one’s own progress.

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Gigi Dall'Igna

Foto: Gold & Goose

“An engineer, a rider or a person shouldn’t be arrogant and rely solely on their own ideas. Sometimes you can learn from others, sometimes others learn from you. The important thing is to keep growing and improving yourself and your team. And that’s what we’re trying to do,” explained Márquez. “It’s a competition. Everyone watches what the others are doing. I do that too.”

Aprilia lives up to its role as favourite, but Márquez is also strong

Friday offered Ducati good conditions to test the new developments. In sunshine and summery temperatures, Márquez had already set the fastest time in FP1. In qualifying, he improved to 1:26.901 minutes, finishing 0.126 seconds behind Marco Bezzecchi. Raúl Fernández slotted in between the two.

Aprilia-Pilot Marco Bezzecchi erlebte ein aufregendes Zeittraining

Foto: Gold and Goose

“I’m very happy because I’ve got the feeling I’d been hoping for here at Phillip Island. But all the Aprilias are very fast,” summarised the Ducati rider. “Every day counts. We’ve worked hard today and tried out a few things on the bike.”

He wasn’t surprised that Aprilia put in such a strong, united performance on the fast Australian circuit. Behind Márquez, Ai Ogura and World Championship leader Jorge Martín rounded off the top five. “It’s just as we expected yesterday: Aprilia are very strong here. Over the course of the season, we’ve already seen on several occasions that they’re very fast in fast corners and on tracks with flowing layouts. But we’re fast too,” Marquez noted.

Weather change forecast: What Marquez can expect

However, the conditions for the rest of the weekend are likely to be very different. The forecast change in the weather could mean that the set-up work done on Friday is of limited use. “The weather forecast for Saturday and Sunday isn’t particularly good. But you have to be ready in case things change,” explained the Spaniard.

His confidence in his own competitiveness is, for now, based on dry conditions. “Every day is important. If it’s wet tomorrow, then we have to be ready. Here at Phillip Island, everything can change from one day to the next. In the dry, we’re right up there,” emphasised Márquez.

In his view, however, rain would not automatically negate the Aprilia riders’ advantage. “The last time we rode in the rain was at Jerez. That was a long time ago. But a fast rider is always fast. A good motorbike performs well in all conditions. So they’ll be fast in the wet too,” predicted the defending champion.