Pending the official announcement, Francesco Bagnaia himself has admitted by not denying it that next season he will leave the factory Ducati team to race for Aprilia.
Bagnaia’s agent inquired about the rider’s future at the end of last summer, and after being given the runaround for months, having understood that Bagnaia’s place was going to end up given to Pedro Acosta in 2027, he decided to take action, entering into negotiations with Yamaha.
The Iwata-based company presented a firm offer to the Italian rider but two factors made him hesitate. The first, the lack of reliability of the 2026 M1 in the Sepang pre-season test. The second, discovering that Yamaha had already signed Jorge Martin, with whom he would have to share the box for the next two years.
Aprilia took advantage of the situation by playing the emotional card of Yamaha’s priorities, which backed Martin before Bagnaia, and offered him the bike that the Spaniard will leave at the end of the season. The offer from the Noale-based team is economically inferior to Yamaha’s, so Aprilia has had to agree to sign a four-year contract reviewable, by both parties, at the end of 2028. Less money, but greater stability and security, which is something Bagnaia values.
Gabarrini — Pecco’s trusted technician
Once Bagnaia’s move to Aprilia was revealed, the idea quickly arose that his only race engineer since arriving in MotoGP in 2019, Italian Cristian Gabarrini, was going to accompany him to Aprilia.
Although it is not the norm, many major MotoGP riders have taken their trusted technicians with them when they changed teams: Valentino Rossi took Jeremy Burgess with him, first from Honda to Yamaha and then to Ducati and back to Yamaha. More recently Martin, after sealing the 2024 MotoGP world title, took Daniele Romagnoli to Aprilia for 2025.
Valentino Rossi, Yamaha Factory Racing and Jeremy Burgess, Yamaha Factory Racing crew chief
Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images
Others chose not to do so, such as Marc Marquez, who was unable to take his long-time crew chief Santi Hernandez to Gresini and then on to Ducati, or Jorge Lorenzo, who after nine seasons with Ramon Forcada at Yamaha could not take him to Ducati, so he formed a new partnership with Gabarrini.
Gabarrini, who turns 40 in June, holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Ancona, and arrived in MotoGP at the end of 2002 to work in the LCR team as a data engineer.
In 2005 Ducati signed him as technical manager and electronic engineer, a position in which he remained for two years, until in 2007 the Italian manufacturer signed Casey Stoner and placed Gabarrini as his chief technician, achieving the first MotoGP title in the history of the Bologna company, and the first for the Australian.
When Stoner went to Honda, in 2011, he took the Italian technician with him, with whom he stayed for two years until his retirement. In 2013 he became a HRC race engineer, working with Marquez and Dani Pedrosa, before being promoted to Honda’s head of engineering in MotoGP in 2015.
In 2017 Gabarrini returned to Ducati to work with Lorenzo, with whom he stayed for two years, until the end of 2018.
After not renewing Lorenzo’s contract at the end of 2018, Ducati sent Gabarrini to its satellite team Pramac, with the mission of taking charge of a young Italian rookie in MotoGP, Bagnaia, in whom the Bologna company had placed the hope of winning a title again.
After two years in Pramac, in 2021 Bagnaia made the jump to the factory team and Gabarrini joined him as his chief technician, and helped Bagnaia to consecutive titles in 2022 and 2023, which meant that the first three MotoGP world championships for Ducati were achieved with Gabarrini.
Cristian Gabarrini, Pramac Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images
After eight seasons together, the big question opens up. Will the engineer remain at Ducati or will he go with Bagnaia to Aprilia?
Loyalty or the Acosta challenge
At 40 years old, Gabarrini finds himself facing what is, surely, the most difficult decision of his career: remain loyal to Bagnaia and accompany him to Aprilia or stay at Ducati to be alongside Acosta, the new star of MotoGP.
The Spaniard, now at KTM, has asked Ducati to work with Gabarrini. “They both know each other, talk often and there is good chemistry,” sources who know the relationship assure Motorsport.com. Others, directly internal to the team, follow the same line: “The idea is that he continues with Ducati, and everything points to that.”
There is an interesting component. Many see Acosta as the new Stoner and the Murcian wants to know everything about the Australian, how he worked, what he asked for, what he gave priority to when riding. Therefore Acosta sees working with Gabarrini as a gift, having the engineer who won two titles with Stoner.
Another variant, this one more emotional, is Gabarrini’s son, Matteo, has been a part of the VR46 Riders Academy since 2024.
The young rider, who will turn 17 this year, won the CIV (Italian Speed Championship) in the junior MiniGP50 category in 2021, and tipped to be a future star under the tutelage of Rossi’s academy. No one knows what weight this factor may have in Gabarrini’s decision, nor even if he will take it into account when deciding, even though staying alongside Bagnaia would, surely, keep him closer to the VR46 Riders Academy.
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