Bagnaia pledges to ‘raise the bar’, ‘Ducati’s rivals have made a step forward'

Bagnaia, who has the chance to join only Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez in winning three ‘MotoGP’ titles in a row, laid a solid foundation for his 2024 campaign by giving the new Desmosedici engine a thumbs up at Valencia in November.

“In Valencia, sometimes you cannot make the difference regarding the engine, under many points of view, but we managed to do a great job, so I left Valencia very happy,” Bagnaia said at Monday’s team launch.

“Two days before I had won the world title, so I was generally happy. But the test was extremely positive.”

Bagnaia, who won his second premier-class crown in a final round showdown with Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin, will again be one of four riders on the latest factory spec machine while VR46 and Gresini (including new signing Marc Marquez) have the proven GP23.

“We are going to raise the bar more and more,” Bagnaia declared. “The fact that you have eight Ducati bikes on track is something that can favour me, but also the other way around.

“And I think that all the teams [manufacturers] have made a step forward. The KTM last year had improved a lot. Aprilia as well. And Honda and Yamaha will make a step forward too. They will improve their performance as well.

“I'm eager to hit the track and pick up where we left off. It's bound to be a challenging season, but we're ready to face it with our usual determination.”

Bagnaia came under intense pressure from Martin during the second half of last season, briefly losing the title lead in Indonesia before rallying back.

“Last year I learned that you need to be quiet. You need to stay calm because if you work well, the results will arrive,” he said.

Bagnaia and team-mate Enea Bastianini will take to the track alongside their MotoGP rivals during the Sepang test from February 6-8.