Marc Marquez defends Ducati's Aprilia-inspired MotoGP aero: “You cannot be arrogant”

Marc Marquez says Ducati cannot afford to be “arrogant” about borrowing ideas from Aprilia as the manufacturers battle for the 2026 MotoGP title.

Friday at Phillip Island was once again a case of Marquez versus the Aprilias, with Ducati's reigning champion the only rider to split the RS-GPs.

After leading FP1 at the start of MotoGP's final visit to the legendary Australian circuit, Marquez was third fastest behind Marco Bezzecchi and Raul Fernandez in the afternoon.

However, he was also two places ahead of title rival Jorge Martin, who leads the World Championship by just two points.

“Very happy, because the feeling was the one that I was looking for here in Phillip Island, but it's true that, as we expected yesterday, all Aprilias are very fast,” Marc Marquez told MotoGP.com.

“In this kind of layout, with very fast corners, they have a very good speed. But let's see. We worked well on Friday, and we need to keep going.”

However, Friday's dry-weather pace might count for little if the forecast rain arrives on Saturday and Sunday.

“Every day counts, and today we worked, and we tried a few things on the bike, as you could see,” Marquez said.

“If tomorrow is wet, we need to be ready… But at the moment, in dry conditions, we are there.”

Ducati tries Aprilia-style aero: "I don't feel they copy and paste"

The obvious development tried by Marquez on Friday was a version of the Aprilia rear swingarm aero.

“I kept it because from the beginning I didn't feel worse. So when you introduce a new thing, and you don't feel worse, it means that it can work better and better in the future,” Marquez said.

“Still, we need to understand a few things, but the most important for me is that I see that Ducati is working, trying new things and giving everything, with five rounds to go, to try to fight together for the championship.”

Asked about Ducati appearing to ‘copy’ Aprilia’s design, Marquez responded:

“For me, an engineer, a rider, a person - you cannot be arrogant and only [use] your ideas. Sometimes you can learn from the others, sometimes the others can learn from you.

“The most important thing is growing and trying to improve yourself and your team, and it's what we try to do.

“I don't feel that they copy and paste.

“In the end, this is competition; everybody is looking, even me as a rider, what the others are doing to try to perform better.”

Younger brother Alex was the next-best Desmosedici rider in sixth place on Friday.