In recent weeks, Ducati has outlined an ideal two-year scenario for the future, which in the eyes of its managers would have been perfectly in line with its own desires and those of Marquez and Martin, whose renewals became a priority once that of Pecco Bagnaia.
The idea was to promote Martin to the official team, as Bagnaia’s teammate, and to place his rival at Prima Pramac Racing, with treatment as a full-fledged official rider. However, the creators of this strategy did not foresee the reaction of Marquez, who vehemently refused to join Paolo Campinoti’s team.
“Pramac is not an option for me. And it is not because I am a person with very clear ideas and because I will not leave one satellite team to join another,” he said on Thursday, in a statement that, as expected, Campinoti’s team didn’t like it. “We have survived more than 20 years without Marc and we will be able to continue without him,” replied the Italian entrepreneur.
According to Motorsport.com, Ducati tested both riders on Wednesday evening, hours before the Gazzetta dello Sport reported the news of Martin’s choice on Thursday morning. Regardless of where the leak came from, what is clear is that Marquez’s strength has fueled an already sufficiently heated atmosphere. At this point, it is necessary to find a solution to solve an equation that seriously jeopardizes the objective that the Bologna offices had set for themselves: to prevent #93 or #89 from reinforcing the competition.
Claudio Domenicali, CEO of the Rossa, seems to have realized the power of the boy from Cervera (Lleida) on a media level and the impact that an alliance between two such powerful images could have. “He never ceases to amaze us”, agree several voices coming from the official garage of the team which achieved a thunderous double this Sunday on the home circuit of Mugello.
Jorge Martín, Pramac Racing
Photo de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
If until a few weeks ago Gigi Dall’Igna, the genius who gave life to the most dominant prototype in the history of the championship, was one of the main supporters of Marquez’s choice, the tables have changed. Now Domenicali is the great promoter of his arrival, due to the possibilities it offers in terms of promotion.
This, of course, without forgetting the speed that the former Honda rider has regained, and which has led him to consider an assault on the title this season, despite competing with a prototype from last year: after the seventh stage of the calendar he is at third place in the general classification, 35 points behind the leader, who is precisely the one with whom the GP25 is played.
Marquez isn’t just annoyed that he wasn’t the first choice to join the factory team. Beyond this, he believes that the curriculum that precedes him should allow him to have control of his future and to be able to choose where to run. Since Thursday, the multiple champion has done everything to increase the pressure on those who have to make the final decision, with that smile of his and a very flattering speech. Martin, for his part, doubts the words received from the heads of the Bolognese company, and fears that all the heavy machinery activated by Valentino Rossi’s heir could make them retreat.
“I’m very happy to compete with the Ducati titans and with all those who have a 2024 bike,” the Gresini rider recalled on Sunday, after fourth place. More or less subtly, he made it clear that he was already able to minimize the technical difference between the Desmosedici GP that he uses, the 2023, and the one used by Bagnaia, Martin and Bastianini, something that only the technicians who have access to the data they can appreciate. “I have very clear ideas in my head and I’m calm. I have three projects and I will be happy with the one I choose,” he replied when asked about his future.
Gigi Dall’Igna, General Director of Ducati Corse
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Ducati has gotten itself into a mess that many within the company don’t know how to get out of. A mess that is the consequence of having opened the doors to a voracious element like Marquez, who in three months has turned upside down an ecosystem that was absolutely under control. Now, the problem of the Italian manufacturer is that there are actors with a very high ability to influence everything that could happen. One of the most decisive keys is in the hands of Pramac, which has the possibility of pressing the pause button.
Gino Borsoi, team manager of the Tuscan team, declared on Saturday that his team will have two latest generation Desmosedicis in 2025 and 2026. Shortly afterwards, Mauro Grassilli, Ducati sporting director, revealed that Pramac has not yet exercised the right to contract renewal. As far as Motorsport.com understands, in fact, the extension of the agreement which would see the Tuscan company maintain its current status – it has the exclusive right to direct support from the factory and two latest generation prototypes – and will only be interrupted if Pramac will inform Ducati of his desire to leave it by the end of July.
In addition to being angry because the agreement proposed to him does not do justice to the commitment made in recent years, Campinoti has an attractive offer on the table from Yamaha, which is rushing to bring four M1s back to the grid. If he were to stay as he is, it’s hard to believe that Marquez would agree to race there after everything that was said in Italy.
Even the possible start with the tuning fork brand would not clear the way for the Spaniard, given that the preferential status that Pramac still enjoys would pass to the VR46. In this scenario, it is even less realistic to think that Rossi would agree to give up a GP25 to his arch-enemy, to take it to Gresini.
The hypothesis of a fifth official Desmosedici GP is not currently being taken into consideration in the Borgo Panigale offices due to the policy of circulation of resources (motorcycles), even if, given the level of complexity that this whole mess has reached, it is not to be exclude a change of criteria.
Enea Bastianini, Ducati Team, Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team
Photo de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
#MotoGP #Ducati #show #Marquez