Derby with an unexpected result
The 2026 season had been portrayed on the eve as that of the great all-Italian challenge between Ducati, the favorite, and Aprilia, growing and now ready to challenge the red that had dominated recent seasons. However, no one would have imagined such a clear reversal of values, with the Noale bike dominant – four wins in five GPs and the historic Le Mans hat-trick – and the Borgo Panigale one apparently in an identity crisis. In an exclusive interview with FormulaPassion.it, the historic manager Carlo Pernat analyzed the performances of the two Italian manufacturers, also identifying how Aprilia managed to leap ahead of the competition.
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Pernat to FormulaPassion: “Aprilia has grown, Ducati…”
“Aprilia has really grown exponentially – Pernat told us – as no one could have imagined. The ‘problem’ for the others, however, is not just Aprilia, but Aprilia plus its riders: Bezzecchi and Martin are a big deal. No one expected, myself first, that Martin after a year off would already be this strong. The bike package plus the two riders is winning. The bike counts a lot: it’s no coincidence they made a hat-trick with Ogura’s podium and also last year Raul Fernandez won a race. The bike has grown a lot. I believe that Aprilia has found a ‘gap’. They understood that for them it was enough to make a small leap forward this year, while all the others invested for next year. Aprilia made a different choice: they saw there was space and made the leap forward. We were waiting for Europe to give a verdict, but this bike rides well on all circuits”.
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And Ducati? According to Pernat, the Borgo Panigale manufacturer that had won all titles from 2022 onwards, has been a victim of technical regression in the last two seasons, partially masked last year by Marc Marquez’s incredible year. This year, however, the problems have come to a head: “Ducati when it chose [Marc] Marquez won, but it also completely split. If you think Bezzecchi was there, Martin was there… Problems with the bike? The GP24 had reached the top, it was the perfect bike. They wanted to make changes that in my opinion were not perfect, on the contrary, quite the opposite. And now what do you want to change? The issue is that now everyone is preparing next year’s bike, starting from scratch“.
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