Ducati has announced that its regular MotoGP test rider and stand-in Michele Pirro will take injured 2025 world champion Marc Marquez’s place for next weekend’s Australian Grand Prix.
But it pointedly left the door open to a different substitute for the Malaysian GP a week later, phrasing its social media post about Pirro’s call-up as being to replace Marquez “at the Aussie appointment”.
With that same post also reiterating that Marquez is out for both Phillip Island and Sepang at least with the collarbone injury he sustained when hit by Marco Bezzecchi on lap one of last weekend’s Mandalika race, Ducati seems to be ruling out an early Marquez return.
Could that vacant bike for Sepang be destined for World Superbike Championship title contender and potential future Ducati MotoGP rider Nicolo Bulega?
He is unavailable for Phillip Island due to the clashing WSBK finale at Jerez but would be free for Sepang and will have an official Ducati MotoGP role as a test rider in 2026.
That position comes ahead of MotoGP switching to Pirelli tyres for 2027, with Ducati highlighting Bulega’s Pirelli experience from WSBK as a key reason for giving him the role.
It also puts him in the mix for a potential future Ducati MotoGP switch.
The 25-year-old Italian was originally part of Valentino Rossi’s VR46 Academy stable but his time in the grand prix classes never lived up to the expectations set by a very impressive Moto3 rookie season in 2016.
Bulega has since revitalised his career in the production bike world, winning the 2023 World Supersport title then finishing second in his WSBK rookie season with the factory Ducati team last year. This season he has been embroiled in a close title fight with MotoGP-bound BMW rider Toprak Razgatlioglu - though momentum has been very much on Razgatlioglu’s side in recent rounds and he leads Bulega by 36 points going into the deciding Estoril and Jerez events over the next two weekends.
While it’s unlikely Ducati would be making many judgements about Bulega’s longer-term MotoGP potential from a one-off Michelin-shod race weekend at the end of this season, but it may see such an opportunity as a harmless reward for his WSBK performances that might have a useful upside.
Bulega indicated to Italian media ahead of this weekend’s Estoril WSBK event that while a MotoGP chance would appeal, doing it without proper testing first - and that is not possible given Ducati’s lack of concessions - would be a concern.
That lack of concessions has also made 2025 a quiet year on the MotoGP front for Pirro. The 39-year-old has notched up 51 grand prix starts (and seven Italian superbike titles) in his stint Ducati’s preferred substitute and wildcard test rider since 2013 but had none so far this season.
Ducati only specifying Australia for Pirro may yet turn out to be a complete red herring. He did take part in MotoGP’s pre-season test at Sepang so in that respect is a logical choice to race in Malaysia too.
But at a time when Ducati could perhaps do with a few more longer-term MotoGP options given Pecco Bagnaia’s troubles, Marquez being nearer the end of his career than the start, and Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin’s exits from the Ducati fold, the possibility of Bulega dropping in for Sepang would be intriguing.
