Thomas Luthi thinks “alarm bells” are now ringing at Ducati, as Marc Marquez’s failure to make up the difference at COTA shows they can no longer hide their mistakes.
Marquez He is the King of COTA who has won seven MotoGP Grand Prix in Austin, Texas to his name. The Spaniard won every year at COTA from 2013 to 2018 but failed to challenge for victory in 2026. United States Grand Prix – Even without his long lap penalty.
FIM stewards slapped Marquez with a long lap penalty for the United States GP After taking on VR46 rival Fabio Di Giannotto during the Sprint race. Marquez crashed after leaving it too late to brake for the 12th lap and swept Di Gianntonio on the first lap of the sprint.
Marquez dropped from P7 to P11 after the penalty, but recovered to finish in P5 at the checkered flag. He finished 8.100 seconds behind Marco Bezecic Aprilia Racing won at COTA, also 3.603s ahead of KTM star Pedro Acosta in the final podium spot last time out.
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Marc Marquez tests at COTA prove Aprilia RS-GP better than Ducati GP26
But Luti Márquez thinks his inability to make a difference in GP26 around COTA was more worrying. Ducati Instead of the result, Aprilia definitely showed that they have the best bike. George Martin won the COTA Sprint And Aprilia were given a one-two in the United States GP.
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Lütti believes that Aprilia “can no longer deny” that the RS-GP is the superior bike from the Ducati, as the RS-GP’s superior cornering ability compared to the GP26 was highlighted around COTA. In particular, the Aprilia bike feels “clearly” stronger in the first class of COTA.
“It’s clear that the Aprilia is much better,” Luti said Motor sports magazine. “This allowed Bezeci to take tighter lines and go through the turns and turn faster.
“Perhaps the marque could have hidden or canceled a lot. It still achieved a lot of success at the end of last year. Of course, the development for 2027 started early with all the rule changes, but 2026 is still an important year for Ducati.”
“They really wanted to be in the lead, ideally not just with one rider, but with everyone.
“I think Marc Marquez has been able to get away with it for a long time, but he couldn’t even do it in Austin. Now alarm bells are definitely ringing in the Ducati ranks.”
VR46 rider Di Giannantonio aboard a Ducati GP26 edged out factory Aprilia pilot Bezzecchi to claim pole for the United States GP. Works Ducati ace Francesco Bagnaia also took the GP26 to P4 on the grid and almost won the Sprint before Martin caught up with him on the final lap.
But the speed of the GP26 during qualifying and the sprint did not translate into a strong Grand Prix in Texas. Di Giannantonio was the top Ducati rider in the US GP, finishing P4 with a 6.972s deficit to Bezeci, while Bagnaia managed P10 with just a 14.544s deficit.
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