KTM test rider Pol Espargaro believes Ducati will slowly lose its stranglehold on MotoGP from next year, as the changes to its programme start to bite.
Espargaro, who contested last week’s Austrian Grand Prix as a wildcard entrant, reckons that Ducati will immediately feel the loss of Jorge Martin, Enea Bastianini and the Pramac team in 2025.
The Spaniard witnessed the Borgo Panigale marque score another convincing victory at Spielberg on Sunday, with seven bikes inside the top 10 being either GP24 or last year’s GP23.
The 35-year-old praised Ducati for the way it turned itself into a giant in MotoGP, a combination of boss Gigi Dall’Igna’s Formula 1-like focus and expansion to eight bikes across four teams.
But the eight-time podium finisher thinks Ducati’s most dominant days might be behind it once it scales down to six bikes in 2025, with the loss of two race winners in Martin and Bastianini dealing further blows.
“[Ducati] are very superior, I believe it's the result of many years of having a big data advantage that other manufacturers didn't have, among other things,” Espargaro said.
“They have been able to develop a lot faster and now we are suffering from that.
“But it's normal when you have eight bikes on track for so many years when the others had two, or four tops. Having 50% fewer bikes on track is crazy.
“[But] little by little it will reverse, starting with next year, since they've lost one team and a couple of very fast riders.”
KTM’s home race ended up in disappointment, with the marque’s best runner Brad Binder finishing fifth and 18.6s down on winner Francesco Bagnaia.
Espargaro finished in 11th on KTM’s test bike, while Tech3 duo Pedro Acosta and Augusto Fernandez narrowly finished inside the points in 13th and 15th respectively.
While the gap to Ducati was startling, Espargaro took encouragement from the result, which put KTM ahead of Aprilia in the pecking order.
“The first non-Ducati was a KTM; a long way behind, but we are not the only ones who suffer compared to the Ducati,” he said.
“Aprilia for example, when we are not fighting with the Ducati they are there, and today [Sunday] Aleix [Espargaro] finished two seconds ahead of me.
“We have all suffered here, and the ones that have suffered the least have been the KTMs.
“We came with a lot of desire and we thought we could do better than how it has turned out, but the thing is that it is very difficult to fight with the Ducatis.”
