{"id":219307,"date":"2025-10-17T03:51:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T03:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/219307\/"},"modified":"2025-10-17T03:51:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T03:51:08","slug":"ducati-names-marc-marquezs-replacement-for-the-malaysian-motogp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/219307\/","title":{"rendered":"Ducati names Marc Marquez’s replacement for the Malaysian MotoGP"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ducati has confirmed that Michele Pirro will continue to replace injured world champion Marc Marquez at next weekend\u2019s Malaysian MotoGP<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Dorna\u2019s Jack Appleyard during opening practice at Phillip Island, sporting director Mauro Grassilli avoided giving any kind of timeline for Marquez\u2019s return.<\/p>\n

But when asked about MotoGP\u2019s medical director suggesting Marc Marquez is unlikely to race in the penultimate round at Portimao<\/a>, after Sepang, Grassilli replied:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don’t know\u2026 We have daily contact with [Marc\u2019s management], but we’re not sure.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I can confirm that Michele Pirro <\/a>will be in Malaysia for the next race.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhen will we see Marc? Maybe we’ll have more information in the next days.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pirro was initially only named as a stand-in for Australia, with Ducati\u2019s WorldSBK<\/a> riders also available for Sepang onwards, since their season concludes in Jerez this weekend.<\/p>\n

With Marquez now seen as unlikely to be back for Portimao and also in doubt for Valencia, the door to a star replacement such as WorldSBK title contender Nicolo Bulega<\/a> remains very much open.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, Bulega – who has a MotoGP test deal alongside WorldSBK in 2026 – appeared to play down his chances at Jerez on Thursday, highlighting the difficulty of jumping into a MotoGP event without prior testing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, others would likely jump at the chance to ride Marc Marquez’s title-winning bike.<\/p>\n

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Nine-time world champion Marquez suffered a fracture and ligament damage to his right shoulder when Marco Bezzecchi hit the rear of his Ducati on the opening lap of the Indonesian MotoGP.<\/p>\n

Initially hoping to avoid surgery, a decision was made to operate after insufficient progress after one week.<\/p>\n

Marquez has said he aims to be back before the end of this season, which concludes at Valencia in mid-November, but won\u2019t rush his recovery after paying a high price for returning early from an arm fracture in 2020.<\/p>\n

Doctors unrelated to Marquez\u2019s case have estimated that his injury would normally require a 16-week recovery<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Lorenzo <\/p>\n

Lorenzo Savadori, 2025 Australian MotoGP<\/p>\n

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Jorge Martin also out of Sepang<\/p>\n

During FP1 at Phillip Island, Aprilia confirmed that Jorge Martin<\/a> will also miss the Malaysian Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

Outgoing champion Martin broken his collarbone when he collided with team-mate Bezzecchi at turn 1 of the Motegi Sprint race, the latest injury in a gruelling year.<\/p>\n

With Tech3\u2019s Maverick Vinales already ruled out, test riders Pirro (Ducati), Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia) and Pol Espargaro (KTM) will all continue at Sepang next weekend.<\/p>\n

Subscribe to our MotoGP Newsletter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ducati has confirmed that Michele Pirro will continue to replace injured world champion Marc Marquez at next weekend\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":219308,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,5744,4280,62679,806,805,803,804,6909,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-219307","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-motosport","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-jorge-martin","11":"tag-marc-marquez","12":"tag-michele-pirro","13":"tag-motor","14":"tag-motor-sports","15":"tag-motosport","16":"tag-motosports","17":"tag-nicolo-bulega","18":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219307\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}