Francesco Bagnaia took a gamble at Friday’s MotoGP event in Germany by bringing back the Ducati chassis that was initially tested during last year’s Misano trial. Ducati Lenovo riders chose to forgo their usual time attack preparations in favor of performing multiple consecutive runs to gather comparison data, risking missing out on the top 10 spots required for direct progression to Qualifying 2.
Despite this risk, Bagnaia secured ninth place on the timesheet. Although he opted to use the standard chassis for both bikes on Saturday, he believes the alternative frame will be beneficial on other tracks. Bagnaia told Sky Italia that trying something new was crucial, even if it meant risking exclusion from Q2.
He had previously liked the GP24 chassis during last year’s Misano tests but paused development to avoid influencing the championship battle with Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin. This year, before Sachsenring, Bagnaia only had the opportunity to test it again during the Sepang test.
On Friday, the chassis offered improved rear grip, but this came with increased front-end instability, especially under braking—a challenge Bagnaia has faced throughout the season. He described the chassis as offering great grip and helping with bike turning but noted its front-end movement is a drawback on a demanding circuit like Sachsenring. However, he believes it holds great potential on tracks with more grip and plans to experiment more with it in the future.
Anticipating rain for the qualifying and sprint races, Bagnaia confirmed that both of his bikes will revert to the standard chassis from Saturday onward. He will start the weekend trailing by 58 points behind Alex Marquez and 126 points behind teammate Marc Marquez.
In other news, Bagnaia expressed admiration for VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio, who delivered an impressive performance by breaking Sachsenring’s lap records and outpacing Marc Marquez. Bagnaia acknowledged Di Giannantonio’s ability to match Marquez’s pace and praised his telemetry data as “scary” yet impressive. Bagnaia prefers to learn from others by studying their telemetry rather than physically following them on track.
Alex Marquez, despite being injured, posted the second-fastest time on Friday but was pushed to third during the time attack by Marc Marquez. Alex remained strong when running on used tires.
Fan Take: This development from Bagnaia hints at Ducati’s ongoing quest for technical innovation to gain an edge, which could shake up the competitive dynamics in MotoGP. Racing fans should watch closely, as these chassis experiments might lead to new performance breakthroughs that can change the outcome of future races and championships.
