Despite being a big fan of Johann Zarco, Paolo Campinoti will have to do without the Frenchman in 2024, having let him go to the Honda LCR team, where he believes he can spring a surprise. Jorge Martín, however, will remain with the Pramac Racing team for the fourth consecutive season.
The Italian boss is happy to keep the reigning world vice champion, even if the Spaniard believed until the end that he could be promoted to the official Ducati team in place of Enea Bastianini. “But these are things that Ducati does, they are the ones who decide who should or should not be included in the official team”, underlined Paolo Campinoti in an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport.
We know the story: Martín was snatched from KTM by Ducati to make his debut in MotoGP in 2021, where he immediately demonstrated his speed. However, he had to pay the consequences of a serious accident at the beginning of his debut season and then a difficult bike to adapt to the following year. In 2023, when all the planets aligned, he collected a series of victories and, until the last Grand Prix, gave Pecco Bagnaia a hard time in the title race.
Although during 2022 Enea Bastianini was preferred for promotion to the official team, with the superb 2023 season achieved, the spotlight has once again turned on the Spaniard, so much so that he thinks he can finally become an integral part of the official team despite the guarantees that Bastianini had managed to obtain. “Last year, at a certain point, they came back with Jorge, but doing it during the season wasn't something very positive because it caused a bit of distraction,” says the Italian manager.
Even if he ultimately stayed, Paolo Campinoti is convinced that 2024 will be Jorge Martín's last season with the Italian team: “That's for sure.” And he has little faith in the possibility of the Spaniard joining the Ducati team. “In my opinion, he will leave. He could go to Honda, they need a strong rider and, among the young people, he is certainly the one who offers the most guarantees.”
Photo de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Jorge Martín explains whether he will try Honda in 2025?
As soon as the season ended, Martín made it clear that his ambition for 2025 is to become an official rider. “The goal is to get on the red bike,” he told Motorsport.com during the celebrations organized by Ducati in Bologna last December. “I know it will be difficult, because there is a lot of competition for this position, but I think I have already demonstrated enough. If I can't get it, then I will look outside Ducati.”
The disappointment of having come so close to realizing his dream was still palpable when interviewed by the Spanish magazine AShe specified: “For 2025, my priority 100% is to go to an official team. My goal is the factory Ducati team, because it's the company I'm in, I know the bike and I can project myself very well there But if they don't want me or don't think I'm the best, I'll look for something else.”
Very soon it was clear that his eyes were set on Honda, the brand for which he raced in Moto3 before being “seduced” by KTM. A group that he intends to follow closely this year, to understand if he is taking the right direction after the farewell of Marc Márquez, who joined Ducati with the Gresini team.
“My position is different from Marini's, because I'm winning and he's stagnating,” he stressed last month, when asked about the man who left the VR46 Ducati team to replace the #93 at Repsol Honda. “But if I see that Honda is improving a little or that in the long term it can be a winning project, then it would be a good option. But at the moment I'm having more fun with the Ducati.”
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