The Ducati Lenovo Team wraps up opening day at Motegi in the top ten with Marc Márquez and Francesco Bagnaia third and seventh, respectively

The Ducati Lenovo Team tackled the first day of action at the Mobility Resort Motegi, the venue hosting the Grand Prix of Japan. Marc Márquez wrapped up the Practice session in third position, with Francesco Bagnaia in seventh place.

Márquez, who was also third in the morning FP, worked hard on the setup of his Desmosedici GP machine in the first half of the afternoon session. In his final quick-lap attempt, with the soft rear tyre, Marc climbed back from seventeenth to third at the flag. Bagnaia, who topped the morning’s timesheets, showed good form in the time attack and finished seventh, securing a direct seed to Q2.

The Ducati Lenovo Team will resume proceedings tomorrow morning at 10:10 local time (GMT +9) for Free Practice 2, followed by Q2 at 11:15. The seventeenth Sprint of 2025 will be contested over 12 laps from 15:00.

Marc Márquez (#93 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 3rd
“The feeling was a bit strange and I wasn’t riding in the best way, which made life more difficult for the engineers as we tried different solutions and ultimately lost our way a little. Then, in the second half of Practice, my riding started to improve and I understood my limit better, which was our main goal. The conditions changed a lot from one session to the other, as much as the bike’s behaviour did with different rear tyre options.”

Francesco Bagnaia (#63 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 7th
“We started the day in a good way by making the most of what we had tried in Misano. The feeling was quite good. I’m confident, so let’s see how it goes tomorrow, as it’s in the race where I’ve been struggling the most this year. With the grip increase, I expect a performance improvement by everybody tomorrow. Still, I’m happy with how today went.”