Ducati debuts new fairing at Sepang MotoGP Shakedown test

A new fairing appears to have been debuted by Ducati at this weekend’s Sepang MotoGP Shakedown test.

Michele Pirro has been the only rider on track in Malaysia this weekend for the Italian factory on its latest equipment, with rookie Fermin Aldeguer also taking part in the test but on the year-old GP24 he will ride during the 2025 season.

Pirro has ridden a selection of bikes in Sepang this weekend, including some using an unpainted carbon fairing.

A photo posted to the MotoGP social media pages after the opening day of the Shakedown on Friday (31 January) shows Pirro on one of these unbranded bikes.

Looking at the front of the fairing it is clear to see that the bottom plane of the front wing has been altered compared to last season. The outer section now seems to be thinner and with a deeper curve profile.

The original image posted by the official MotoGP social media accounts, due to the angle from which it is taken, somewhat hides much of the side fairing of the bike, which is out of the light.

However, editing the white balance and brightness of the image reveals some additional detail in the shadow area.

Firstly, the sidepod wings appear (it’s not possible to tell exactly, again due to the angle from which the photo has been taken) to be adjusted. The bottom plane has been brought upwards compared to previous iterations of Ducati’s MotoGP fairing. Additionally, looking at the left-hand sidepod wing, the outer surface appears to be curved, rather than flat.

While these changes could have aerodynamic advantages of their own, their most obvious justification lies just below the bottom plane of the sidepod wing, where sits now a much taller downwash duct.

The shape of the duct appears to be the same as that introduced by Ducati at last year’s Misano test – a fairing update adopted by both Jorge Martin and Enea Bastianini for the remainder of the 2024 season, but not by Francesco Bagnaia. However, it appears to be wider and much taller.

The image shows the upper-most part of the duct to now be almost in-line with the top of the mudguard, where it meets the fork leg. In comparison, the upper-most part of the duct Bastianini and Martin ended last season on sat much lower, as shown in the photo below.

Behind the duct remains the bulged ground effect section that was introduced last year. The photo doesn’t give much opportunity to say with any great certainty how that area of the fairing has been modified for 2025, if at all.

Looking towards the back of the bike – again, the photo doesn’t give us a great view – there seems to be an additional pair of ‘stegosaurus’ wings, in carbon black, positioned – visually – just behind Pirro’s arm. They appear to be similar to those mounted on the tail section of the bike, although clearly mounted further forward and with a connector between the two elements.

Considering ergonomics, these must be positioned behind the seat unit in order to not restrict the rider’s mobility, although exactly where they are positioned we cannot tell from the photo.