Two-time former MotoGP champion Francesco Bagnaia will leave Ducati's factory team at the end of the season and will be replaced by rising star Pedro Acosta, the Italian manufacturer said on Wednesday.
Bagnaia, who was promoted to Ducati's factory team in 2021, is widely reported to be joining fellow Italian and current championship leader Marco Bezzecchi at Aprilia for the 2027 season.
"Pecco has written a fundamental part of Ducati's sporting history," said Ducati CEO Claudio Domenicali.
"He grew up with us, believed in the project and, together with the Team, made a decisive contribution to bringing the Desmosedici GP back to the top of MotoGP," Domenicalli added
The 29-year-old was crowned world champion with Ducati in 2022 and 2023, with his first title a landmark win for Ducati who had been waiting 15 years for the MotoGP rider's crown.
He also narrowly missed out on a hat-trick of world titles in 2024 as he finished just 10 points behind winner Jorge Martin, but he has since struggled on the factory bike.
Last season Bagnaia finished fifth, a whopping 257 points behind champion and teammate Marc Marquez, and he sits seventh in this year's riders' standings after just one win all season – in the Czech MotoGP sprint on Saturday.
On Tuesday Ducati announced Marc Marquez would be staying with the factory team for an additional two seasons, where he will flanked by fellow Spaniard Acosta, who is 22 years old.
Acosta, a former world champion in the Moto2 and Moto3 racing categories, currently races on a KTM bike for Red Bull but has signed a two-year deal with Ducati.