And in the end it thundered so much that it rained. Jorge Martin, after having threatened over and over again to leave Ducati if he didn’t get the (among other things, well-deserved) seat from the official team, he did it. On the Monday test at Mugello, far from the track (where neither he, nor Marc Marquez, nor Francesco Bagnaia got out), in the meanders of the paddock, has reached an agreement with Aprilia for the 2025 season, taking over the seat left empty by Aleix Espargaro. Everything was ”cooked and eaten” in half an hour, with the agreement reached at 5.30pm and signed at 6pm, a few hours after the Spaniard had understood the situation, that is, the very close agreement between Marc Marquez and the Lenovo team. Jorge confirmed his impetuous character, immediately finding a makeshift solution which isn’t so much of a makeshift solution. Aprilia, in fact, will benefit from concessions compared to Ducati until 2025, in order to continue the growth path undertaken in recent years.
BOLD MOVE Martin’s move opens up a multitude of market scenariosstarting from the most probable of all, almost already done: Marc Marquez as Bagnaia’s partner in 2025. On the other hand, it was precisely the ultimatum launched by the eight-time world champion that made the Borgo Panigale manufacturer lean towards his name . If Marquez hadn’t had the official bike he would have left, probably to KTM to team up with Pedro Acosta, and for multiple reasons (economic, image, opportunity), Ducati has chosen not to let the champion escape, and to sell a prized rider, produced by its own Pramac nursery as well as world champion and favorite for the current world championship. It remains to be seen whether all the impetus and anger that the Iberian rider will unleash on the track in the next GPs will be counterproductive or, on the contrary, will push him to massacre – sportingly speaking – the competition, to make the Ducati managers regret their choice and bring the number 1 in Noale next season. It is not excluded, however, that the situation will degenerate, and that the paths of Martin and the Italian company will part ways even before the end of the season, everything will depend on the next few weeks.
The podium of the 2024 Catalunya GP with Bagnaia, Marquez and Martin (Ducati). Credits: MotoGP
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WHAT IS THE BEAST DOING? Meanwhile Enea Bastianini – which the Lenovo team has not yet officially dismounted, given that Davide Tardozzi has stated that Bagnaia’s future teammate will be announced before Assen (in four weeks) – we see both the official Ducati door and the Aprilia door slowly closingbut other doors open: first and foremost that of stay in Ducati perhaps with the colors of the Pramac teambut if the latter decided to leave the Italian house to go and sponsor Yamaha (It seems that Paolo Campinoti is giving it more than one thought), then he could return to his home, to that Gresini Racing team who launched it two years ago, continuing on the GP24, unless Borgo Panigale can supply the late Fausto’s stable, now managed by his wife Nadia, with more up-to-date bikes. In this scenario, however, a ramification could concern Valentino Rossi’s team, which could (and would like) to also benefit from the technical upgrade, and which has also long been associated by rumors in the paddock with an agreement with Yamaha. That’s all? No. For Bastianini it doesn’t mean there can’t be a KTM who can afford to let both Miller and Augusto Fernandez go and reserve a motorbike for the talented Italian rider.
MotoGP Americas 2024, Enea Bastianini (DucatI). Credits: Ducati Corse
WIN-WIN MOVE In short, the situation is more than complex, but in the meantime the game of dominoes has started with the strong move of Martin, who has every reason to complain. Marquez would have been preferred to him for reasons of image (two multiple world champions in the team) and also of convenience, placing alongside the champion Bagnaia someone with whom Pecco can also afford to lose, a bit like Ferrari did with his protégé Charles Leclerc (who, however, is not yet champion) by putting Lewis Hamilton in his garage. Practically, if Pecco were to lose, like Charles, he would have lost against the strongest driver in history or so. If he were to win instead, well, he would have beaten the strongest driver in history, or so. A win-win situation that would not have occurred with the hiring of the good Martin, who really can’t blame himself for anything, having done more than impossible to get a bike that he deserved more than anyone else on the grid. But, as they say, time is a gentleman, and we’ll see who will reward.
