MotoGP | Petrucci: “Knowing Dall’Igna, he won’t let Marquez get away”

The battle for second place in the Ducati factory team for the 2025 MotoGP season is still open. Pecco Bagnaia has already secured his place as the team’s key driver until 2026, after renewing before the start of the season. But the question is who will be his teammate.

In addition to Enea Bastianini, third in the general classification after four Grands Prix, Jorge Martin is also in contention, runner-up in 2023 and current leader of the classification after an impressive start to the year until his crash in Jerez. The Spaniard has reiterated on several occasions that his goal is to be a rider for the Borgo Panigale team next year, knowing that he has acquired many merits in this sense. But both have to deal with another option: that of Marc Marquez.

The rider from Cervera is facing his first season with the Italian company after leaving Honda, and the truth is that he has already adapted to the Desmosedici GP23 from a year ago, fighting for victories in the United States and Spain. It therefore seems obvious that Ducati could exploit an eight-time world champion like him to join the official team, even if the brand showed some doubts last year, when there was talk of his possible arrival in the Faenza team .

In fact, there are more and more people who think that the Bolognese team will focus on Marc Marquez, even if Gigi Dall’Igna, the general director of the racing department, declared that his “legs are shaking” at the thought of making such a decision.

Someone who thinks like this is Danilo Petrucci. The former MotoGP rider and current Superbike rider, who is recovering from a serious accident in training, knows the Venetian engineer well from the times he worked at Ducati and, in an interview with GPOne, declared that he doesn’t think who will let the number 93 slip away.

“I have no insider information, but I have a feeling that Marquez will go there,” began “Petrux”. “I don’t know if there are problems with the sponsorship of energy drinks (Marquez is a Red Bull rider and Ducati is sponsored by Monster). But from what I understand – and I would feel sorry for Enea – Gigi Dall’Igna is a rider like Marquez he doesn’t let it slip away. He led Ducati to win because he is ruthless in his method of reasoning, in the sense that he is ruthless in the pursuit of his objective.”

“He may be nice or unpleasant, but he has led Ducati to be the reference for MotoGP. Knowing his way of thinking, I think that Gigi wants to find out what a rider like Marquez can do on his bike”, he added.

Petrucci, however, also takes into account the Bagnaia factor and his desires: “Given that Pecco is having an incredible moment and has always made the difference in the moments when it counted, I don’t know if he would be pleased that Marc arrives. Maybe it’s This aspect must also be evaluated, the human side in the garage. Then they are two very big changes and maybe everyone does their duty.”

The rider from Terni was then asked if otherwise the official Bastianini or Martin team deserves more: “I’m very sorry for Enea, because in my opinion he didn’t perform as well as he could have done without last year’s injury I don’t think he has reached his full potential with the factory Ducati and I hope he does. It’s clear that Martin would like to ride that bike, and he deserves it, but I would like Marco Bezzecchi to do it too results, it won’t be easy, but the only thing I hope is that they don’t make hasty decisions based on the moment,” he commented.

In line with this last comment of his, Danilo underlined the excessive rush that there is always on this front: “The market is always early. For me, things should be evaluated more than halfway through the championship, not after a few races. I hope also don’t make the riders endure this situation for too long, because these decisions destabilize you a lot. Knowing that you are in the running to go to an official team is nice, but difficult. You know that it is an opportunity that can change your life on a level sporting,” he concluded.