Davide Tardozzi: “I will not change my approach” for Pecco Bagnaia, Marc Marquez
“I have no doubt that it will be very easy to work with them”
Ducati team manager Davide Tardozzi insists it will be ‘very easy’ to manage MotoGP champions Francesco Bagnaia and new signing Marc Marquez in the same garage this season.
Although Ducati had to navigate an all-Desmosedici Bagnaia vs Pramac's Jorge Martin title battle for the past two seasons, 2025 looks set to be the first time two Official team riders have gone head-to-head for the championship.
Many are predicting fireworks, sooner or later.
But former racer Tardozzi - whose heart-on-a-sleeve reaction to the highs and lows of racing are frequently caught on camera in the Ducati garage - is adamant champions are easier to work with than newcomers.
“I will not change my approach because in the end it’s much more easy to work with champions than with young ‘kids’,” Tardozzi said at the Ducati team launch.
“I already know very well Pecco, while I am starting to know Marc. I think it will be very easy. And what supports my opinion is the respect that I see between them.
“They speak a lot. They are working together to try to improve the bike and then in the end it will be the racetrack that will say who is in front and who's in the back.
“But this is something that whoever is behind will take as a stimulation to be better for the following race. So I have no doubt that it will be very easy to work with them.”
The Italian, 65, pledged: “As we did in the past, we will support both riders. We have the power to do it. We will support those two champions - because we have two champions, not only two riders - and we are proud to have them.
“We will support them in the best way, and if one or the other will take a different way [with set-up or parts], we will try to support him in the best way.”
Tardozzi won the first ever WorldSBK round at Donington Park in 1988 and later oversaw eight Ducati Superbike riders' titles before joining the factory in MotoGP.
For many years, Tardozzi faced Marquez as a rival, the Repsol Honda rider thwarting Ducati’s title hopes with Andrea Dovizioso in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
Nonetheless, there were some thrilling victories by Dovi against Marquez, such as a last-turn showdown at Austria in 2017, with Tardozzi at the centre of the post-race celebrations.
“We already spoke with Marc about that!” Tardozzi said. “I was so happy when we beat him because I knew that we were beating the best rider of the moment.
“So when we fought with him, I was super happy and the team was super happy because beating Marc on those times was for us something incredible.”
Bagnaia handed Tardozzi his first MotoGP titles as a team manager in 2022 and 2023 before losing out to Martin at the final round of last year.
Overlooked by Ducati in favour of Marquez, Martin and the number 1 plate are moving to Aprilia this season.
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
