Michele Piro sees Francesco Bagnaia as having the same ‘problem’ as his 2025 fight in Thailand

Last year saw such a decline Bagnaya said he did not feel “very well”.As he realized after the end of the season that he had to do more to adapt to the Ducati GP25. The 29-year-old has never lost track of how the bike brakes and the feel of the front end.

But pre-season testing has suggested the 2026 MotoGP season could see Bagnaia return to form in GP26. Aprilia CEO Massimo Rivola suggested that Ducati’s rivals could be heading home because of Bagnaia’s pace. At the Sepang test, however, that hope failed to follow through on him at the time.

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Michel Pirro feels there is ‘no clear explanation’ for Francesco Bagnaia’s issues at Thai Grand Prix

Bagnaia failed to get out of Q1 at Buriram Last Saturday, that left him fighting with one arm behind him at the first round of the remainder of the 2026 MotoGP season. The Turin native qualified P13, which he improved to P9 in the Sprint Race and P9. Grand Prix of Thailand.

Read more: Everything you need to know about the 2026 MotoGP season, from the calendar to the drivers

Ducati test rider Pyro He was at Buriram to replace the injured Fermin Aldeguerre with Gresini, and monitored Bagnaia’s problems at the Thai GP. Piro felt that Bagnaia’s issues were mainly due to his inability to reach Q2, but it remained a mystery why his fellow Italian lacked pace.

Bagnaia’s issues echoed the woes of last year, when Michelin supplied its hard rear tire carcass at the weekend. So Pirro now hopes to help Bagnaia and Ducati understand why he went wrong at the Thai GP on Wednesday March 12 in a private test against Yamaha in Jerez.

Pyro said GPON: “I followed the whole situation and there were some special problems. The feeling is gone, (and) the transition to Q2 is lost. These are the situations we saw on certain occasions last year, but there is no clear explanation.

“Also, the bike is similar to the test bike, and both in Sepang and Buriram in the first days, he judged positively. Now, we will work in the Jerez test to understand better.

Is Ducati’s dominance in MotoGP finally over?

Yamaha will hold a private test in Jerez on March 12, but Ducati test rider Piro will also take part. The test, however, will not help Ducati understand why it could not carry the pace from pre-season to the Thailand GP.

Michelin only brings its heated rear tire to the competition MotoGP calendar It is caught in hot places like Thailand and Indonesia. So Bagnaia could go straight back and rejoin the race for the lead at Round 2 of the 2026 season at the Brazilian Grand Prix from March 20 to 22.

But Bagnaia fears Ducati no longer has the fastest bike. After seeing how well the Apria fared in the Thailand GP, though, she generally has a bike better suited to the heavy tire case. Four Aprilia riders finished in the top five as Marco Bezzecchi won the Thai GP in an RS-GP.