Ducati, the manufacturer that kick-started the modern aerodynamic era in MotoGP, has “lost something” in that area this season.
That was the view of Jorge Martin during a post-Sprint conversation with 2024 title rival Francesco Bagnaia at the US Grand Prix.
Martin, the only rider to use the medium rear tyre, surged past Bagnaia on the final lap of Saturday’s Sprint to secure his first win on an RS-GP.
Martin, Bagnaia and third-place Pedro Acosta were then filmed by MotoGP.com while being driven to the podium ceremony.
“I crashed at 200km/h!”
“How the f*** did you crash?” Acosta asks Martin, referring to his fall while celebrating on the slow-down lap.
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“Doing a wheelie in fourth gear!” replies Martin. “I was doing a normal wheelie, and it [the steering] got stuck sideways, and I thought ‘I can’t stop’.
“So I kept upshifting, third, fourth… Then I thought, ‘right, I’ll drop it’ [down]. And when I was coming down [the front] went away real [quick], and I crashed at 200km/h!”
“You’ve lost something”
After discussing the impressive braking performance of Honda’s Joan Mir, Martin turned to Bagnaia:
“You’ve lost something now… I’m sorry. With the aero, you can see.”
Bagnaia, who is widely expected to replace Martin at Aprilia in 2027, did not respond directly.
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But the factory Ducati rider later reflected on Martin’s late-race charge.
US MotoGP Sprint Lap Times: Podium plus Bastianini, Bezzecchi, Mir.
© Peter McLaren
“I had a 1.3s gap, then 0.8 and at Turn 7 I could hear you,” Bagnaia said.
“I thought, ‘he’s here, he’ll pass me’. But I didn’t think you’d do it at Turn 12 because I was braking hard.
“You guys have improved your braking loads, you’re really strong now.”
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Martin replied: “You’ve found something now as well, man.”
Bagnaia added: “I’m a little bit better, yeah. We’ll see. I hope so.”
Unfortunately for Bagnaia, he again struggled with tyre wear in the closing stages of the Sunday race, fading from fifth to tenth.
Martin, meanwhile, finished second to team-mate and title leader Marco Bezzecchi, who had crashed out in the Sprint.
Acosta, who was later stripped of the Sprint podium by a tyre-pressure penalty, repeated the feat and kept the position in the grand prix.
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“What Bez does, I do”
The Saturday in-car conversation concludes with Martin saying: “I follow Bez. What Bez does, I do.”
“He’s really strong,” agrees Bagnaia.
Bezzecchi heads to Jerez with a four-point lead over Martin, while Acosta sits third in the standings.
VR46’s Fabio di Giannantonio is the leading Ducati rider in fourth, ahead of reigning champion Marc Marquez in fifth and Bagnaia in eighth.
KTM star Acosta is expected to take Bagnaia’s place at Ducati in 2027.
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