Ducati will face a major problem when the new MotoGP rules come✃ into effect, it has been predicted.

The Italian manufacturer has been largely dominant since the start of 2023, and ended a 15-year wait for the premier class championship which dated back to♔ Casey Stoner.

This year, Pecc✃o Bagnaia, Jorge Ma♚rtin or Marc Marquez will ensure Ducati’s name is again associated with the top prize.

But their eventual decline has been predicted.

TNT Sports’ Neil Hodgson questioned: “Eventually if you dr💛aw a graph, is this the top? The sweet spot? Will it start to dwindle?

“Think of the dominance of Honda. It has all changed. My feeling is that ꧋Ducati’s peak is♋ next year.

“The factory team will potentiall✨y win every race. If Ducati imﷺprove this bike…”

In 2025 Marquez will join Bagnaia in a mighty-looking duo for the fac🎐tory team.

However, their eight-bike presence on the grid will be re🍸duced to six because the Pramac satellite team is exiting to join Y▨amaha.

Hodgson continꦰued: “The beauty of what Ducati did is that it took years to build the foundation of a great motorcycle. They hജave rock solid foundations and they have fine tuned and tweaked it.

“The other manufacturers are yet to find th🍌eir foundation bike.

“The issue is the rule change in 2027. Do you continue throwing £50m per 🍃year at it or do you switch to focus on 2027?”

Michael Laverty credited how Ducati 🀅turned around the barren spell since Stoner’s 2007 title which included the failed tenures of Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo.

“Look at♓ the 10 years♚ they spend languishing,” Laverty said.

“They acquired﷽ data, engineers and experience. Ducati didn’t buy in knowledge, they developed it in-house, they put their engineers through university, they put ꦜthem on the ground with their teams.

“They spread their teams throughout Superbikes, Woꩲrld Endurance, Supersport, MotoGP.

“Now with༺ four teams and eight riders, they’ve bee💧n able to refine the package. It went from having a lot of horsepower but didn’t turn, they got involved in the aero race to lead the way with innovations.

“They changed the game. You’ve got to look back at ꦫthe acquisition of Gigi Dall’Igna. They built the team around him.

“They did it their own way and this is their time in the sun. Ducati have earned it, they are now the people that everyone wants to match. It’s an engineering fe🔯at of genius.”

Why didn’t KTM challenge Ducati?

Pol Espargaro’s wildcard appearance last weekend in Misano was a reminder that KTM still have a lot of development to do before they can regularl♕y challenge Ducati.

“It shows you where KTM are at,” Laverty said.

🐻“They need to utilise someone like🎶 Pol as much as they can.

“What we learned about Pol at the recent race was that he has not lost speed or hunger. At times, he was the fastest KTM out there albeit on the new bi⛦ke.

“The aero looked different. KTM need to find a step. We were hoping they would get cꦡloser to Ducati this season but the reality ♓is that they’ve got further away on out-and-out lap time.

“If you look at overall race times compar🅺ed to this year, KTM are♏ a way further back from the winners.”

Pedro Acosta’s early season form has dwindled.

Next year, KTM will welcome Acosta along𝔉side Brad Bin💜der in their factory team.

The rebranded Tech3 KTM team will be factory-supported with Enea Bast🔴ianini and Maverick Vinales riding their bikes.