Ducati’s next chapter: Bagnaia out, Acosta in, and Aprilia waiting in the wings

Pecco’s Ducati farewell starts as Acosta prepares to join Márquez

Ducati Corse has formally confirmed that Francesco Bagnaia and the Bologna marque will part ways at the end of the 2026 MotoGP season, bringing to a close one of the most successful rider/manufacturer partnerships in Ducati’s premier-class history.

In a separate release, Ducati also confirmed that Pedro Acosta will join the Ducati Lenovo Team from 2027 on a two-year agreement, pairing the Spaniard with Marc Márquez through to the end of 2028.

Those are the official Ducati lines. The more interesting story sits between them.

Bagnaia’s impending move to Aprilia has been known in the paddock for some time, and MCNews understands that the deal was inked long ago, despite the fact that it is yet to be officially declared. That announcement is nonetheless expected to be imminent, with Ducati’s overnight confirmation that Pecco is leaving the Bologna fold acting as the necessary precursor.

It is clear Bagnaia is heading just up the road to Noale, even if Aprilia is yet to make that part official.

The end of Ducati’s Bagnaia era

Bagnaia joined Ducati as a MotoGP rookie in 2019 and has since become, statistically, the most successful rider on the Desmosedici GP. Ducati’s own headline tally credits the Bagnaia/Ducati partnership with two riders’ world titles, 31 wins, 63 podiums and 28 pole positions.

Ducati’s overnight confirmations have made official what the MotoGP paddock had known for some time: Francesco Bagnaia’s days in red are numbered, Pedro Acosta is heading to the factory Ducati squad, and the next major domino is expected to fall at Noale.

The 2022 title ended Ducati’s 15-year wait for a rider crown after Casey Stoner’s 2007 success, and Bagnaia backed that up with another championship in 2023. For a period, Pecco was the clear reference inside Ducati’s MotoGP structure: precise, polished, highly technical, and central to the Desmosedici’s evolution into the grid’s benchmark motorcycle.

Ducati’s language around the split was suitably respectful. Claudio Domenicali referred to Bagnaia’s clean and elegant style, while Luigi Dall’Igna’s wording was perhaps the more revealing, acknowledging that sometimes a cycle has ended and change is needed.

Somewhat of a natural endpoint after a relationship that delivered for both sides, but one that had clearly changed in dynamic once Marc Márquez arrived in the factory garage.

Pecco and Marc kept it civil

The Bagnaia/Márquez factory partnership has always carried a fascinating tension. On one side, Ducati had the rider who dragged the red bike back to the top of MotoGP and built a title-winning rhythm around technical precision. On the other hand, it had the most decorated rider of the modern era, still carrying the competitive force and gravity that tends to bend any garage around him.

Marquez and Bagnaia in the Ducati celebration after a Brno weekend last time out that put both factory riders on the Grand Prix podium.

That dynamic has ebbed and flowed. There have been weekends where Bagnaia looked comfortable with the arrangement, and others where the weight of having Marc on the other side of the garage was impossible to ignore. Yet, from the outside at least, it has remained cordial, sometimes even friendly, and always respectful.

The next version of the Ducati Lenovo Team could be a very different proposition.

Bagnaia may have had his frustrations, and the relationship may have evolved in ways that made a fresh start logical, but Pecco has rarely projected chaos. He is measured, contained, analytical, and diplomatic. Acosta, by contrast, arrives with a more overtly combative edge. He is young, direct, fiercely ambitious, and unlikely to be satisfied playing second fiddle for long.

Pedro Acosta leads Marc Marquez through a right-hander at Balaton Park, the KTM rider still resisting before Marquez eventually found a way through. The pair will be on identical machinery in 2027…

It will be fascinating to see how that rubs up against Márquez when they are not just racing each other but also sharing data, debriefs, engineers, politics, and expectations inside the same factory garage.

Bagnaia’s resurgence complicates the farewell

The timing of Ducati’s announcement is also interesting because Bagnaia has, of late, looked happier and more convincing on the Ducati than he had through some of the more difficult stretches of the past couple of seasons.

After a hot weekend at Brno, where Pecco again showed signs of a proper resurgence in form, the Ducati farewell announcement lands not against the backdrop of a rider fading quietly into the exit lounge, but one seemingly rediscovering some of the confidence and sharpness that made him a double MotoGP World Champion.

Ducati Lenovo Team celebrate Marc Marquez’s Hungarian Sprint win, a result that contrasted sharply with Francesco Bagnaia’s more difficult ninth-place run to the final point on Saturday at Brno

That does not change the destination. It does, however, make the final months of the relationship more intriguing.

Ducati has stated that both sides will continue to push for the best possible results through to Valencia, and there is little reason to doubt that. Bagnaia’s value to Ducati does not disappear just because his future lies elsewhere. Equally, Pecco has every incentive to close this chapter strongly, not only for his own pride, but also because he will arrive at Aprilia with much more authority if he finishes 2026 looking like a rider reborn rather than one waiting for a new bike to save him.

There is also the delicate human element. A resurgent Bagnaia makes the Ducati farewell less tidy. If Pecco keeps building momentum and starts taking regular points away from Márquez, Ducati will have a rider heading to Noale who is still capable of shaping the championship narrative from inside the red garage.

Marc Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia both stood on the Balaton Park podium as Ducati Lenovo Team reached 100 MotoGP wins.

Already thinking about the Aprilia?

One of the more interesting recent paddock moments came when Bagnaia quizzed Ai Ogura about how he could enter corners with the rear sliding on the Aprilia, when they were in the car on the way to the podium interviews at Brno…

On its own, that could simply be filed as one racer being curious about another racer’s technique. In the current context, it is hard not to see it as something more pointed.

Bagnaia is clearly already thinking about the RS-GP, how it makes its lap time, where its strengths lie, and how its character might demand a different approach. Aprilia has often looked particularly potent in areas where the Ducati has not always given Bagnaia the feeling he wants, especially around corner entry, rotation and the way the bike can be hustled into the apex.

Bagnaia’s curiosity suggests he is already mentally preparing for the switch, even if he is unlikely to throw a leg over the Aprilia until December.

For a rider as methodical as Pecco, that learning process has probably already started. The questions are being asked now, even if the answers will not come properly until he finally gets his first taste of the Noale machine.

Acosta to Ducati, finally official

The other half of Ducati’s overnight news was another long-known move, but one that is now official: Pedro Acosta will replace Bagnaia in the factory Ducati squad from 2027.

Ducati confirmed that the 22-year-old Spaniard has signed for the 2027 and 2028 seasons, during which he will make his debut on the factory Desmosedici GP alongside Marc Márquez.

Ducati released this graphic overnight, celebrating the pending arrival of Acosta to their fold

Acosta’s credentials hardly need much dressing up. He arrived in Grand Prix racing as one of the most exciting young talents of his generation, won Moto3 and Moto2 world titles in his first three seasons in the World Championship, then backed that up in MotoGP by taking Rookie of the Year honours in 2024. Ducati’s own release also points to his fourth place in the 2025 standings and 13 premier-class podiums.

Domenicali described Acosta as one of the most talented young riders in the MotoGP paddock, while Dall’Igna called him the ideal candidate for the future of the Ducati Lenovo Team.

That future is going to be fascinating, and potentially combustible.

A very different Ducati garage

For all of Bagnaia’s achievements, Ducati’s 2027 line-up represents a significant shift in personality and, probably, in development emphasis.

Bagnaia’s Ducati was built around precision. Márquez and Acosta bring something more aggressive, more instinctive, and potentially more volatile. That is not a criticism. It may well be exactly what Ducati wants as it looks to remain the dominant force in MotoGP while also resetting the factory team around both experience and youth.

Marc gives Ducati a proven, ruthless winner who has already shown he can bend the Desmosedici to his will. Acosta gives them the next-generation superstar, a rider with enormous natural speed, a direct personality, and little apparent interest in being managed into patience.

The contrast with the Bagnaia/Márquez dynamic is obvious. Pecco and Marc may have had a relationship loaded with competitive undertones, but both are seasoned enough to understand the value of keeping the surface calm. Acosta is still at the stage where hunger can spill over quickly, and where every strong weekend is likely to reinforce his belief that he is ready to be the main man.

For Ducati, that is both the attraction and the risk. A Márquez/Acosta pairing is a dream line-up on paper, but not necessarily a quiet one. Two Spanish stars, two huge competitive egos, and one factory garage. Ducati will believe it has the structure, engineering depth and political discipline to manage that. It will still be one of the central stories of 2027. Who will Davide Tardozzi be hugging most with unbridled emotion next season….?

Assen heat adds another layer

Before any of that plays out, attention turns to Assen this weekend, where MotoGP arrives in very different conditions to the usual cool, changeable Dutch GP script.

After the heat of Brno, a record-breaking European heatwave is now unfolding, and all and sundry look set to swelter through the Dutch TT. Forecasts for Assen suggest temperatures could climb into the mid-30s across the race weekend, a long way from the more familiar image of the northern Netherlands in June.

That sort of heat changes the tone of a MotoGP weekend. Track temperature, tyre pressure, rear tyre life, brake cooling, rider hydration and physical recovery all become bigger parts of the equation. Assen is already a circuit that rewards flow, confidence and commitment through fast direction changes. Add oppressive heat, and the challenge becomes as much about management as outright pace.

Marc Marquez is likely to find Assen a much more difficult prospect than Brno, and Bagnaia is likely to edge him this weekend.

For Bagnaia, Assen is the next opportunity to underline that his Ducati story is not winding down passively. For Ducati, it is the first race weekend after publicly confirming the end of the Pecco era.