After a historic 2024 season, Ducati has a 'good problem' when it comes to deciding on their engine for 2025 and 2026.
Ducati has a crucial decision to make ahead of the 2025 MotoGP season when it comes to its engine. The Italian manufacturer will have to use the same engine for 2025 and 2026 due to the two-year engine freeze ahead of the 2027 regulation changes.
Marc Marquez has labelled Ducati's engine dilemma as a 'good problem' for the factory to have. The GP24 engine is a good base to build upon, but Marquez was very secretive over which engine he used during the final day of testing.
“Was a mix,” he said. “Was with the aero of 2024, the rest you cannot see… So, for that reason I say only the aero.”
There are now only two days of MotoGP testing left before the season begins at the end of the month. It will be after these final two days in Thailand that Ducati decide which engine to use.
“For that reason the good problem of Ducati is we start from a base that won 19 races from 20,” Marc Marquez added.
“So, this is something difficult to improve and that’s why you have to be sure it’s better, because you know with the 2024 you can fight for the championship 100%.
“So, it’s there where we tried many things because it’s not only engine, it’s not only aero. It’s many small things that today we worked more on the small details and tried to understand which piece is better and which piece is worse.”
The final day of the Sepang Test could have masked issues that some manufacturers, including Ducati, may be experiencing. The high level of grip on Friday can 'absorb' all of the issues that riders had been having on Wednesday and Thurday.
“Of course always you can try to improve,” he said.
“The problem was the track conditions were unreal, because there was a lot of rubber and you don’t know where the problem of the bike is, because when the grip of the track is super good - the track, if you walked it, was fully black.
“Many problems, all that rubber absorbs. So, it’s there at the moment when I put the best package I found I feel good, I cannot say to you where we can improve.”
