Will data sharing at Ducati be a boomerang for Marquez?

Ducati, shared telemetry as a philosophy

In recent days the general director of Ducati, Gigi Dall'Igna, had praised the policy implemented by the Borgo Panigale manufacturer with the customer teams. The Italian engineer had explained how the three teams in the Ducati orbit – namely Pramac, Gresini and VR46 – have received continuous assistance in recent years, which went well beyond the mere supply of motorbikes usually implemented for a satellite team.

From this perspective, the Borgo Panigale leaders had decided to break down any walls – even virtual ones – between its teams and the eight drivers on the track have at their disposal, shift after shift, the telemetry of all their brand mates.
It is no coincidence that the Ducati riders, session after session, found very important improvements, so much so that on 8 occasions the podium of the Sunday race was entirely occupied by centaurs from the Italian company owned by Audi.

The arrival of Marquez

Already at the end of 2023, Ducati riders, officials and customers, had explained that they were waiting with curiosity and impatience to have access to the data from Marc Marquez, to compete with one of the legends of MotoGP, capable of winning six titles in the premier class. And in the Valencia tests, although it was his first contact with the GP-23, he did not betray the expectations of his brand mates, with Jorge Martin saying he was amazed to have found similarities between his style and that of the Catalan and with Enea Bastianini impressed by the telemetry of Turn 8 where the #93 “it almost doesn't seem to slow down”.

Gino Borsoi, Pramac team principal, then spoke to the Swiss about Speedweek of Marquez's presence as an opportunity for growth for his riders: “Marc will certainly be among the best. Data exchange will be an advantage for all of us. If we are smart, we will be able to exploit its speed to become even more competitive”.
In short, if, at least initially, Marquez can benefit from and understand the differences in the management of set-ups and trajectories from Ducati 'masters' such as Bagnaia, Martin and Bezzecchi, in the long run this data sharing could become – for the Catalan – the most classic of boomerang. And already at the end of last season, engaged in the comeback against Bagnaia, Jorge Martin whispered under his breath: “I would prefer not to see any data and for others not to see my telemetry either. Data exchange has definitely helped me at times, but that's maybe 10% of the time. The rest of the time I do my own thing and I have the feeling that I get to the limit quite quickly and that the others then catch up to me.”