Alex Marquez tests factory Ducati aero in Valencia MotoGP practice: ‘It’s different’
Alex Marquez tested a different aero package on Friday at the Valencia MotoGP
Gresini’s Alex Marquez tested a 2025-sepc Ducati aerodynamic package on Friday at the MotoGP Valencia Grand Prix, which he said felt “different”.
The 2025 championship runner-up has competed all year on the 2024-spec Ducati in Gresini colours, on which he has scored three grand prix victories.
Next year, Alex Marquez will have machine parity with the factory riders, with testing for that already beginning on Friday at the Valencia Grand Prix.
The 29-year-old had one of the 2025-spec aero packages that his older brother Marc Marquez has raced with this year, but which Pecco Bagnaia has elected against using.
Alex Marquez, who was fourth in Practice on Friday, says testing the different package was about getting ahead of the programme he will have on Tuesday.
“I tried the aero,” he said.
“It was the plan to try it also on Tuesday. So, we are already trying a few things this weekend and also use the weekend for that, because Tuesday will be quite a cold day.
“We will not have a lot of hours on track with good temperature, so we will have to anticipate some things to focus more on the important things during the test.
“At the moment, just the aero. It’s different.
“It’s one aero that the three official guys already tried during the season.
“They wanted more information, another comment on it. We try to anticipate the test to have more time to try different things on Tuesday.”
Marquez says this testing is enjoyable for him, but admits it meant he couldn’t focus on race preparation on Friday, which leaves him with “double work” to do on Saturday morning.
“Looks like we are more or less the same ones as Portimao,” he said of the pecking order.
“But also, the other ones are closer than in Portimao. It will be quite an interesting weekend, because the differences are quite small.
“Qualy will be quite important because it’s difficult to overtake.
“So, we need to be there. Today, it’s true that we focused more on trying a different package and not on extracting the potential from the bike, improving our set-up.
“So, tomorrow it will be double work, but we tried a few things, and that was the main target today.”
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Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
