Ducati Sporting Club UK > News Items > Ducati Press Releases > Francesco Bagnaia and the Ducati Lenovo Team forced to retire at Sepang due to an unexpected setback while battling for the podium.

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MotoGP | Round 20 - Malaysian GP 2025 | Sunday 26 October 2025

Francesco Bagnaia and the Ducati Lenovo Team forced to retire at Sepang due to an unexpected setback while battling for the podium. Michele Pirro finishes seventeenth

• Alex Márquez takes victory with the Ducati of the Gresini Racing Team, which also clinches the MotoGP Independent Team title

The Ducati Lenovo Team wrapped up the twentieth Grand Prix of the 2025 MotoGP season at the Sepang International Circuit. Francesco Bagnaia was forced to retire with three laps to go while running in third place, and Michele Pirro finished seventeenth.

Bagnaia lost the lead on lap two but kept Alex Márquez in close range for more than half the race distance. After defending second place well from Pedro Acosta’s attacks, he dropped to third and began to lose ground. With three laps remaining, Pecco returned to the pits and retired due to a flat rear tyre. Michele Pirro completed the weekend with a seventeenth-place finish.

As the twentieth Grand Prix draws to a close, with Marc Márquez already crowned World Champion, Francesco Bagnaia sits fourth in the standings, five points behind third place. The Triple Crown is completed by the Teams’ title secured by the Ducati Lenovo Team and the Constructors’ title clinched by Ducati.

The Ducati Lenovo Team will return to Europe to tackle the penultimate event of the season at Portimão’s Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, from November 7th to 9th.

Francesco Bagnaia (#63 Ducati Lenovo Team) – DNF
“First of all, my thoughts go to Rueda and Dettwiler for what happened to them in the Moto3 race, and I keep my fingers crossed for them. When such things happen, everything else becomes less important. Today we were unlucky, as we had a flat rear tyre. This happened on lap twelve and then, little by little, the pressure kept dropping. I thought I had managed the tyre wear the wrong way, but after analysing the data, the issue was clearly there. Unfortunately, these things can happen. Overall though, it was a positive weekend despite how it ended.”

Michele Pirro (#51 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 17th
“We completed this hot weekend at Sepang with good feedback. In the race, while I was tailing another rider, I could feel changes in the bike’s behaviour – something I had never experienced before, as during testing I always ride on my own. The lap times improved as the race progressed, and I further narrowed the gap to the frontrunners. We tried new parts for next year and tested several set-up adjustments, working ahead of time for the future.”