Francesco Bagnaia admitted he was “surprised but happy” about the preview of Ducati’s 2026 MotoGP package that he rode at the Valencia test.
Bagnaia headed into the end of season test after a struggle-filled 2025 needing to see signs of improvement from Ducati’s GP26 package.
Bagnaia had continuously complained of a lack of front feeling throughout the season, which may have contributed to his poor form that saw him take fifth in the riders’ standings.
While the double World Champion admitted Ducati “need to do more laps” to gather data, he was “happy” to find some things working well.
“Honestly I’m quite surprised, not surprised but happy that things were going well,” Bagnaia said via Autosport.
“I started the day with the preview for 26 and it was working well, we managed to do a good job all the day.
“The braking on entry was much better so now we will check, understand and analyse everything to understand the situation and to try and have this feeling like [Pedro] Acosta.
“But very happy about the things we tried and happy with the new fairing that looks good, but we need to do more laps because this track is not very good for that.”
Although Bagnaia felt as if he had a positive day, he was the only rider to crash during the test, which was shortened due to adverse track conditions caused by the cold weather.
However, the Italian revealed that despite being the only rider to take a tumble, the incident did not concern him.
“It was nothing, I was pushing,” Bagnaia said.
“It was my chance to make a good lap time with the time attack but I exaggerated a bit and went wide.”
Francesco Bagnaia: ‘I honestly don’t care’ about Nicolo Bulega leading Ducati MotoGP testing
There were some concerns for Bagnaia however, as he completed the day of testing at Valencia behind his team-mate for the test Nicolo Bulega.
Bulega will join Ducati’s MotoGP test team as its lead rider for the 2026 season as the Italian bids to move across from the WorldSBK paddock for 2027.
Bulega shone in his two stand-in rides in Portimao and Valencia, as he replaced the injured Marc Marquez for the final two rounds and scored points in both races.
The WorldSBK runner-up finished the test in eighth, two places and 0.070s ahead of Bagnaia in 10th.
However, Bagnaia revealed he was unbothered by the gap to Bulega and was focused solely on his own improvements.
“I honestly don’t care what people say,” Bagnaia admitted.
“I think Nicolo did a good day, he was working well.
“The lap time he did in this run was very good but honestly I was focused on myself.
“Knowing that maybe the time attack could have been better was great, but I didn’t have the chance because I crashed.”
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