Pecco Bagnaia admits: “I was a liar, couldn’t say the truth” about Ducati engine

Francesco Bagnaia says he was “convinced from the start” that Ducati’s 2024 engine was better than the 2025 version during MotoGP winter testing.

Ducati’s engine choice has been the main headline from the 2025 pre-season testing, with the decision made even more important by the fact a two-year development freeze comes into effect from the Thai Grand Prix.

On Thursday at the Buriram test, Ducati confirmed it would homologate its 2024 engine for its 2025 factory riders as the newer specification wasn’t clearly better.

Bagnaia, who was fifth overall in a Buriram test led by team-mate Marc Marquez, said on Wednesday that the 2025 engine was competitive but wasn’t as good as the 2024 under braking.

But, at the end of the Buriram test, Bagnaia admits he lied to the media and was sure from the start of the pre-season that the 2024 engine was better.

“Honestly, [to be] better than the ’24 was tough and I think all the others could pay to have something like this,” he said.

“But, from my point of view, I was quite sure. I have to say that I was a bit of a liar these days but I couldn’t say the truth.

“But I was quite convinced from the start that the ’24 was better.

“Then we worked, we tried to improve but for the first day in Malaysia me and Marc were of the same opinion that the GP24 was still a bit better.

“We tried to improve a lot on the braking, but we didn’t succeed. So, we worked a lot here with the ’24 and we understood that we still have some margin on it. So, this is great.”

Pecco Bagnaia on Ducati's Buriram test

Ducati looks set to start the year with its 2024 aerodynamics and chassis too, though Bagnaia says the bike he will ride is a “’24.9 - so, very close to the new one”.

Wednesday in Thailand proved to be difficult for Bagnaia, which led to him “starting from zero” on the final day of testing to improve his bike.

Despite the intense work, Bagnaia ends the test pleased with the turnaround his team managed.

“This morning, honestly, I started again feeling the same as yesterday,” he said.

“But from that moment we started to improve session by session and I’m very happy about it.

“It wasn’t an easy day, but we managed to complete our job considering we lost everything yesterday.

“So, we started from zero again and I was improving. So, I’m happy. I’m more happy with the laps with used tyres because I was very competitive in the last part of the day with used tyres.

“The only thing that didn’t work today was the time attack I did in the last part of the session, just for something outside of our business.

“But I think for the race weekend won’t be our problem. But nothing more. I’m just happy.”