MotoGP | Martin breaks with Ducati, opens the door for Marquez in Red

Between the races in Barcelona and Mugello, Ducati had communicated to Jorge Martin that he had been chosen to be Pecco Bagnaia’s teammate in the official Ducati team in 2025. On the eve of the Italian Grand Prix, a man from the top of the brand Borgo Panigale welcomed the Spanish rider, thanking him for his patience and perseverance in recent years until he arrived here.

In Borgo Panigale they were convinced that with this maneuver they could convince Marc Marquez to race in the Pramac team, with the same material and support as the official riders. But everything changed radically on Thursday at Mugello, when La Gazzetta dello Sport broke the news about Martin officially. Thus Marquez closed the door to Ducati’s wishes, which wanted to place him in Paolo Campinoti’s team. “Pramac is not an option for me,” he stated, closing the topic in an extremely serious manner.

This reaction was not expected by Ducati management, who had been in contact with the rider over the weekend to look for alternatives. Marc told them that he would either go to the factory team or look for another brand. Ducati panicked when they saw that they would lose the most media-focused rider in the paddock and bowed to his requests: in 2025 he will be Bagnaia’s teammate, leaving the handshake with Martin unconfirmed.

After Marquez’s harsh reaction on Thursday in Tuscany, Martin tried to maintain contact with Ducati managers, who told him to postpone the decision again until this week. Thus, the rider understood that they will not offer him any contract to join the official team and he takes note of it.

Tired of these failures by the Borgo Panigale leaders, he has made the decision to accept, in the short term, one of the various offers he has on the table. These are KTM, Aprilia, Honda and also Pramac, if it eventually separates from Ducati to join Yamaha, as it seems will happen.

There won’t even be a place for Enea Bastianini in Ducati. The Italian rider, second in Sunday’s race of the Italian Grand Prix, has made the decision not to wait any longer and hopes to close the negotiations he has opened with KTM, Aprilia and also Yamaha to race with Pramac.