MotoGP | Barros: “Pecco will have difficulties with Marc, but Vale will help him”

There has been much talk about Ducati’s choices, explicitly contesting them in some cases. Choosing Marc Marquez instead of Jorge Martin in the official team for next year has made many turn up their noses, but Borgo Panigale has always expressed their conviction, justifying their choice. Thus, in 2025 we will see the eight-time world champion again in an official team alongside the two-time MotoGP world champion, Pecco Bagnaia.

On paper, it will be the most successful line-up on the grid, with 11 (or maybe 12) titles between the two of them. Mind-boggling numbers, but they could give many a headache. Yes, because we know that two cocks in one henhouse often lead to clashes. Let’s remember the recent past in MotoGP, when Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi shared the box in Yamaha. Or, going a bit “downhill” towards four wheels, when in 2007 Lewis Hamilton swooped into the McLaren box alongside Fernando Alonso. We all know how it ended.

Here, this is the great fear of many who do not look favorably on the Bagnaia-Marquez pairing. There are also those who want to wait for the answers from the track, thinking that not everything will be so obvious. Even Alex Barros, former MotoGP rider, had his say on the future of the Ducati factory box and thinks that Pecco will not have an easy life together with Marc.

However, the reference point for the Rossa will be the Piedmontese also in 2025, so it will be the Spaniard who will have to prove he can beat his future teammate: “When Marc arrives in Ducati, he will find a reference rider and already the first time they get on the bike a very big rivalry will begin. I think Bagnaia is quite clear about what will happen. There will be a big war inside the box and Ducati will have a lot of difficulty managing everything. If they are not able to do it, they will give room for maneuver to other brands, like Aprilia and KTM if they make a great bike in 2025”.

But Bagnaia has a secret weapon. On his side he has the most successful rider in MotoGP, the one who has a stormy past with Marc Marquez. So, Pecco will find his greatest ally in Valentino Rossi: “Bagnaia is a rider from Valentino’s Academy, we all know what Vale thinks of Marc for everything that happened. Pecco doesn’t expose himself, but you can see that they are there because politically they have to be there, but they are not friends. Next year, Marc will arrive and make the difference, there will be a lot of controversy. It will be complicated to manage the two riders, in the eyes of the public everything will be fine, but internally it will not be easy at all to manage these two riders”.

“I spoke a bit about this with Valentino and he has very clear ideas. He knows what needs to be done and will help Bagnaia in every way. But it will be difficult, Pecco already knows that he will have a complicated year. He has certainly been in Ducati for a long time, he has won two world titles and is fighting to win the third. But a rider will arrive who will break all these balances and things will change during the season”, continued Barros in an interview with his Spanish colleagues at Motosan.es.

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

However, the rider from Cervera is still fasting for victories. More than 1000 days have passed since his last success and this, entering the second half of the season, is more surprising than anything else. When Marquez announced his signing with Gresini for 2024, almost everyone would have expected a fairly quick return to the top step of the podium. He still lacks that victory, and Barros believes that the more time passes, the more difficult it is seeing the gap between the GP23 and the GP24: “Before Mugello, there were great possibilities even with the 2023 bike”.

“For example, in my opinion Marc didn’t win in Jerez because he crashed on Saturday, he risked the victory because he had to finish the race and get points. But it was a race that he could have clearly won. But at the moment I don’t see any chance, in the last races Marc had started well, but he wasn’t able to keep up with the pace of the top two in the championship. Bastianini sometimes appears, but certainly with Bagnaia and Martin you have difficulties”, he explained.

But even between the same models there is a difference, according to the Brazilian. Analyzing the riders on the track, Barros hypothesized that Bagnaia’s GP24 is more powerful than Jorge Martin’s: “Without taking away credit from Pecco, who is having a brilliant season, what I see is that Bagnaia’s Ducati has a little more power, especially when exiting corners. You can see that, when exiting corners, Martin’s bike has more difficulty. I don’t know if there are other points, it seems like a small difference to me, but with two riders at the highest level, any detail more or less makes the difference”.