Key “personal preferences” on Marc Marquez Ducati MotoGP bike identified

The Ducati Desmosedici GP25 has existed in a strange state since the beginning of the MotoGP preseason – not quite a full evolution from the GP24, but not quite the same as last year’s bike either.

Some of the changes that were made to the Desmosedici for 2025 were walked back before the first race of this year in Thailand – most notably the engine, chassis, and aerodynamics.

“It’s hard to improve on perfection,” said TNT Sports MotoGP analyst Michael Laverty speaking at the Argentinian Grand Prix last weekend, “and the GP24, the title-winning machine, was near-on perfect: it stopped, it turned, it accelerated like no other two-wheeled motorcycle has in the past.”

Laverty added: “But Gigi Dall’Igna likes the push the envelope, he likes to take some risks, and in winter tests he did. [Ducati] changed the main frame, the engine, the swingarm, and the lowering device.

“They tried to work to improve the package overall, and they did find some improvements – it’s clear to see at round one with the dominance of Marc Marquez on this bike.

“But they did pull back on the engine spec [to be] a little bit closer to the GP24.”

Perhaps the most significant change to the Desmosedici this year was the rider, with Marc Marquez joining the Ducati Lenovo Team.

Laverty was able to note some of the small personal adjustments Marquez himself likes to make to the bike.

“When he [Marquez] was at Honda he used to run a dinner plate-sized rear [brake] disc, it was huge in terms of thickness and diameter,” he said.

“But this is much more normal, it’s a regular size, and that is down to that, although this has got 300bhp, it’s not a fire-breathing machine – it’s so user-friendly.”

He added: “I like the little personal preferences Marc does – the front brake lever, for example, he likes [it] in an exact position. So, he’s a two-finger braker and he’s cut away the back of [the lever] – sometimes you can pull the brake lever too hard and it bottoms out against your two smaller fingers on the glove. So, it’s just that little detail.

“It’s something that Marc likes, he likes that bite, that feel, and watching him against Pecco [Franceso Bagnaia] – who arguably was the strongest braker last season – Marc’s in-touch already on the braking zones.

“I note that Marc is on the newer fork [with] the longer tube, Pecco likes the old school, shorter front fork – again, [that’s] personal preference.”

Laverty also noted that Ducati has taken a step forward with its ride height device for 2025, making its deployment smoother.

“[The ride height device is] semi-active in that the rider activates it down the straight and then he goes into the corner and doesn’t think about it, then it’s almost automatic off the turn,” he said.

“But the evolution with this is that when you watch Marc exiting a turn it looks like he’s so comfortable: bum resting against the seat pad, front wheel just hovering off the ground, the rear buried down like a drag bike, and it accelerates so well off the corner.

“And that is where Ducati have excelled: getting 300bhp to the ground, managing the rear tyre consumption.”