Carlo Pernat stands with Pecco Bagnaia and scuttles Ducati: "Very heavy air"
Pecco Bagnaia continues to be one of the luxury disappointments in MotoGP 2026, after finishing a bitter tenth at the Grand Prix of the Americas in Austin. Yet a motorcycling veteran like Carlo Pernat shifts the burden of responsibility from the Piedmontese rider’s shoulders directly to Ducati. In fact, according to his analysis, the 2022 and 2023 world champion has made the best choice in leaving the Borgo Panigale manufacturer at the end of the current season, and then linking up in the next one with the Aprilia project.
Reached by ‘FormulaPassion.it,’ Pernat indeed unabashedly promoted Pecco’s decision to move to Aprilia. “Bagnaia all in all has done well, as a man, because in Ducati by now the air is very heavy. It’s over,” his stern assessment. All in a picture that, in his own words, has little precedent: “The big thing was done before the championship, which is something I had never seen in my life. There is a series of home separates that is frightening.”
“Practically all the big guys are: Quartararo will go to Honda, Bagnaia to Aprilia, Martin to Yamaha, Alex Marquez to KTM, Pedro Acosta to Ducati,” Pernat reconstructed.
“It’s like if you have a marriage that has been over from the beginning and you don’t even know if you then did right or did wrong to interrupt it. More complex is the picture of Fabio Di Giannantonio: “Diggia was left out of the game of the front runners who all put us right immediately. Unfortunately this is how it went, but it is also a normal thing. For the future will also depend a lot on him. This will be an important year: he is an outsider who can go fast. He is aiming to stay in VR46 and if he does a good championship, I think he will stay there. Otherwise, it becomes hard.”
In the meantime, although there is nothing official yet, ‘AS’ gives it for certain: Pecco Bagnaia would have agreed, with Aprilia, a four-year contract with a 2+2 formula, that is, with an exit option already after two seasons. Such a multi-year term is reminiscent of that of Marc Marquez in his Honda days: in that case, the Catalan rider had taken advantage of the exit option at the end of 2023, seeking (and finding) fortune in Ducati.
The rider from Chivasso, among other things, would have decided to bring with him to Aprilia also his technical chief in Ducati, Cristian Gabarrini: another decision destined to cause discussion among fans and insiders. The engineer from Marche has a long history in MotoGp: in 2007 he won the title with Casey Stoner, who, riding the Desmosedici GP7, gave Ducati its first Riders’ and Constructors’ title in the premier class.
