Family Challenge
In recent days Ducati published on its official YouTube channel a special version of the traditional Vlog ‘INSIDE Ducati’, which normally tells the ‘behind the scenes’ of the MotoGP race weekends of the Borgo Panigale factory team. This time, however, the episode is entirely focused on the WDW weekend organized by Ducati from July 3 to 5, 2026 at the Misano World Circuit ‘Marco Simoncelli’. On this occasion, the Bologna-based company celebrated the 100th anniversary of the brand and the highlight of the weekend was naturally the ‘exhibition race’ held on Sunday, in which all the best Ducati riders from all the categories in which the brand is involved, from MotoGP to Superbike, participated.
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Of course, Francesco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez were also present, but they necessarily had to ‘hold back’ from pushing to the maximum of their abilities in this event, to avoid injury risks and conserve as much energy as possible for the following MotoGP weekend held on July 10-11-12 at the Sachsenring. Regarding the effort they should have put in (or rather, not put in), the two Ducati champions joked with Ducati Corse general manager Gigi Dall’Igna before the race.
Dall’Igna the ‘overprotective father’
It all started with a joke by Bagnaia who, joking in the box and also considering the day’s weather conditions, suggested: “Today it’s easy to take the big curve flat out… there’s a headwind!“. Dall’Igna’s ironic reply was immediate, probably already fearing to see his two riders ready to fight tooth and nail risking some dangerous slides: “Yes, but even if you do it with a bit less throttle, that’s fine with me…”, observed the Venetian engineer.
Then Marc Marquez joined the conversation, who had repeated all weekend that he wanted to ride slowly to avoid any kind of risk given his far from perfect physical condition: “The big curve is not my strong point…“, said the Spaniard, immediately provoking Bagnaia’s reply: “Yes, I want to see… Last year you said the same and then after…”. “Yes, but last year I was younger“, Marquez concluded, triggering laughter throughout the box. Shortly after, it was Bagnaia, suggesting to Marquez the adjustments to make on the bike, who ‘made sure’ the Spaniard was not going too fast: “Are you putting me in ECO mode?“, joked the red #93 seeing Pecco fiddling with his handlebar; “Yes, I’m putting you on the slow map“, Bagnaia replied with a joke. Yet another testimony, if one were still needed, of the wonderful relationship inside the Ducati box between the two world champions.
