Defeated just twice in Austria since 2016, including the two ‘Styrian’ events during Covid, Ducati arrives for this weekend’s Red Bull Ring MotoGP round having filled seven of the top eight pla﷽ces last time at Silverstone.

Little surprise then that the wuqian0821.com Podcast panel tip th𓂃e Desmosedicis as tough to beat on Sunday. But which rider will emerge victorious?

Podcast host Jordan Moreland said: “🅠Bagnaia is looking to bounce back after Silverstone, where he had to s🧔alvage something in the Grand Prix with a third place.

“But he’s looking to make it three wins in a row in Austria, which has always been a fantastic circuit for Duca💛ti. But can Martin or Bastianini really take it to him this weekend?”

“It seems like you can pretty much bet on Bagnaia and Martin always being up there,” replied wuqian0821.com MotoGP editor Pete McLaren. “But, as you ment🌠ion, Bastianini is probably the biggest question mark for me. Can heꦐ continue this run?

“They use revised rear tyres in Austria due to the nature of the track, with a reinforced construction, which changes things a little bit. Maybe that’s part of what playဣs into Ducati's hands, with their rear grip.

“If tyre degradation comes into it, your money would be on Bastianini in those situations. But overhauling Bagnaia and stopping him making it three in a row will be a very tou♚gh task.”

Quizzed on the Martin-Ba🔯gnaia title fight, which has n✱ow flipped back into the Pramac rider’s favour by a slim 3 points, MotoGP journalist Lewis Duncan said:

“Before the summer break, I would have been ‘100% Pecco is going to walk this weekend’. But I kind of 💮thought that was going to be the case at Silverstone and we didn't have that.

“I’d predicted after Germany that Martin’s title challenge 🦹woul🔴d maybe start to stutter. And it hasn't.

“On paper, the circuit characteristics 🥀really do play into Bagnaia’s hands, lots of hard braking and getting the bike out at the corners. In th✨eory, that should suit Bastianini as well. But the form guide is a bit harder to predict for him.

“If the strong qualifying from Silverstone does carry on, if that's a legitimate [step], then I think Bastianini’s in a m🎉uch, much 🐲stronger place.

“Martin obviously won for ℱthe first time in Austria, so he's got good form around here. But last year was a bit scrappy, he had that turn-one pile up in the⛎ sprint while Pecco was perfect.

“So it really is finely poised and I thinkꦺ you guys discussed it in the podcast last week that it’s kind of a nightmare for Ducati in terms of this championship situation, with two of the guys [Martin and Bastianini] leaving at the end of the yea♛r.

“They really need Pecco to put in a couple of weekends of re🐼al solid dominance to rem🧔ove that headache a little bit. Because the more Bastianini is competitive, the less they can utilise him as a tailgunner.”

“Bastianini doesn't know how competitive the KTM is going to be next year, but he knows the bike he's on right now is very competitive and he's got half a season to make the mostꦗ of it. So I think he’s just got nothing to lose,” said McLaren.

“He’s 46 points from Bagnaia, 49 from Martin. There are 37 points available each weekend so if he deliv✅ers again like he did at Silverstone I think he's firmly in the title chase.”

Moreland asked: “Imagine if Bastianini and Bagnaia had an incident together? What would Ducati do then, because they also have 🍃to worry 🅰about Jorge Martin?”

“I wrote in a column last wee⭕k that really Ducati should have told Bagnaia to move out of Bastianini’s way at Silverstone,” Duncan said. “Because at this stage of the season, if Bastianini has got the pace to beat Martin, it benefits them more in the bigger picture.

“[But looking ahead] we know from 2022, that Bastianini isn't really one for playing the company line. Because although Ducati never issued any orders as such, there was this instruction of ‘if it's for a race wiꦦn, fine. But if it's a podium, leave Bagnaia to it’.

“And Bastianini didn’t really get that memo! Races like Malaysia I rememb꧋er watching with my hands over my eyes!💧 Because you could see a situation where it was all potentially going to go wrong.

“S🎐o Bastianini does have that quality to him where he is willing to have a fight and he's really willing to go up against Pecco if he gets th🍷e opportunity.

“And if there is then some kind of incident, Martin is the one to benefit the mos♋t from it. And Marc Marquez as well I guess.”

Moreland said: “Marc Marquez has almost been forgotten after this GP24 sweep at Silvඣerstone. He’s 62 point༺s off the championship lead. Austria is a circuit where he did well on the Honda, but never quite won. 

"Now he’s on the bike that won at the track last year but he says he's missing 4-5 seconds to bea♛t the GP24s over a race distance. ܫDoes he need to win here to stay in the title fight?"

“It's slipping away a bit in terms of the title, isn't it?” McLaren replied. “But it’ll be interesting to see what he can do on the Ducati. There are not many trac🍌ks that Marc Marquez has𓃲 not won at and now he’s on one of the best bikes around the Red Bull Ring.

“But the GP24s have somethꦬing extra in acceleration, don't they? The factory ride height device, the engine power… They certainly seem to punch♎ out of the corners.

“I think Marc’s just got to pick his ♌battles a bit, to be honest. There will be some tracks where he does have a real chance to wi♒n, and then he's just got to go for it. 

"His best asse💜t at the moment is probably that he doesn’t have to worry about the championship, whereas Martin, Bagnaia and arguably Bastianini do. 

“N🤪ext year is the🦩 time for Marc to think about the championship.”

“I agree. And I'm kind of thinking more towards Aragon a🌠s the weekend for Marc,” Duncan added. “A left-handed cir🌼cuit that's always been really good for him.

“But the GP24 thing is interesting. Gigi Dall’Igna has made some comments recently about the GP23, and has said that ‘what w𓂃e can do to that bike, we will’.

“Wꦐhich I took as a thinly veiled, ‘if we can give Marc a bit of help to sort of back up Pecco and make life👍 difficult for the other guys, we will’.

“I don’t know if they can fit the factory ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ🌼ride-height device to his GP23, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they turned up in Austria and it’s maybe on the bike...  

“I don't see Marc not being♒ competitive this weekend, especially if heꦐ can get the ball rolling from Friday.

“That's kind of been the problem this year - he spoke of being ‘in delay’ for much of the Silverstone weekend - but that’s bღecause they arrive at each eventꩲ with no data for him at that track.

“If you look at like where he was on Friday at Silverstone and where he ended up on Sunday, you’vཧe got to give the Marquez-Frankie Carchedi duo a lot of credit.

“🗹I still think the GP24s will have the edge in Austria, but let’s see.”