The Ducati Lenovo Team prepares for Q1 after opening day at Valencia: Bagnaia fourteenth in Practice, Bulega twenty-fourth

• Franco Morbidelli is third with the Ducati of the VR46 Racing Team; Alex Márquez (Gresini Racing Team) is fourth

The Ducati Lenovo Team tackled the final Friday of the 2025 MotoGP season at Valencia’s Circuit Ricardo Tormo. Francesco Bagnaia finished a hard-fought Practice session in fourteenth place, while Nicolò Bulega was twenty-fourth at the flag.

Bagnaia, twenty-first in Free Practice, climbed to the top of the timesheets in the early minutes. In the final stages of the session, however, Pecco was unable to make his way back into the top ten and was eventually fourteenth, less than six tenths from first place. Bulega, in his second-ever MotoGP event, continued his adaptation to the Desmosedici GP as he wrapped up the afternoon in twenty-fourth position.

The Ducati Lenovo Team will resume action tomorrow morning at 10:10 local time (GMT +1) for Free Practice 2, followed by Q1 at 10:50 and Q2 at 11:15. The twenty-second Sprint of the season will be contested over 13 laps from 15:00.

Francesco Bagnaia (#63 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 14th
“Today we unfortunately didn’t work in the right direction. There was a slight improvement between the two sessions and I hope that – as the grip increases – we’ll be able to make a more significant step forward. We need to improve the bike behaviour under braking and in the turning phase. Looking at the data, it’s clear that we’re missing speed on corner entry and when opening the throttle, which costs me quite a bit of time. The lack of feeling, in this sense, doesn’t help me give clear indications, and I knew this was a track where we could struggle. In any case, we keep working to find a solution.”

Nicolò Bulega (#11 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 24th
“Riding at this track with a MotoGP bike is not simple and I’m still struggling in some areas of the circuit. This is a very technical track with very interconnected corners: if you don’t have full confidence with the front-end, it becomes challenging to make the bike turn. I can’t exploit the tyres as much as I’d like, especially the soft ones, as I end up with the same lap-times as with the other compounds. When that happens, it means you still haven’t found the limit. In any case, it was overall a positive day and we’ll try to make a step forward tomorrow.”