The respected veteran of MotoGP Paddock has placed emphasis on Ducati’s controversial decision to promote Mark Marc Marquez to his factory team, and has now acknowledged that the move is proven.
Ducati made the headlines by signing six MotoGP World Champion Marc Marquez from Gresini Racing with the factory team over the 2025 season.
Ducati lost Ducati to the Tec3 KTM to Enea Bastianini, a bold and expensive decision, bringing the departure of Pramac, a longtime satellite team that switched to Yamaha.
Theory that Gigi Dall’igna signed to Marc Marquez to overcome the limitations of the GP25
Mark Marquez
Veteran MotoGP manager and head of Enea Bastianini, Carlo Pernat was initially critical of the move. He felt it was against Ducati’s longstanding philosophy of developing young and homemade talent.
However, in a recent interview with Mow Magazine, Pernat admitted that Ducati’s strategy was ultimately correct.
“I have never hidden this as being extremely critical of Ducati because taking Mark Marquez meant that they were denying the policy of young people who grew up at home that was being carried out in Borgo Panigal for years.
“But today I have to say that Gigi Dall’igna was right. The numbers and results speak for themselves.
“Obviously, Gigi knew the Desmocecitie project had peaked. It’s clear that the GP25 is an incomplete bike.
“Gigi probably went beyond the GP24 and knew it would be impossible to improve and would regress very easily. So he went to get a rider who could make a difference.
“That doesn’t mean that the bike was made for Marquez – that’s a misunderstanding – but knowing the dangers of them retreating a technical step, they chose a rider who could move forward two steps themselves.”
And the result backs up it.
Marquez dominated the first half of the 2025 season, winning, including 19 of 19 of 24 races and eight Grand Prix victories.
He heads for the summer holidays with a 381 point lead and a comfortable 120 point lead from his brother Alex Marquez.
Meanwhile, Bagnaia is expected to become Marquez’s main rival, but is struggling with the feel of the GP25’s front-end.
The two-time champion has managed only one pole position in COTA and Brno, and is currently in third place with 168 points Adrift.