The announcement of the arrival of Marc Marquez from 2025 to team up with Pecco Bagnaia transforms Ducati into a dream team with a pair of riders with 11 world titles at the moment, but with unknown and potentially edgy dynamics in the management of two champions. Of this and more spoke the general director of Ducati Corse, Gigi Dall’Igna to Sky Sport, also going into the merits of how the choice came about which led, as a consequence, to the farewell of Jorge Martin, in agreement with Aprilia, and to the possibility of losing the Pramac team as a satellite structure, destined to pass to Yamaha.
the reasons for the choice
—
Let’s start with the reasons for the choice. “We chose Marquez over Martin or Enea Bastianini driven by the awareness that Marc can make a difference with Ducati. Our bike has reached incredible levels and having two riders like Marquez and Bagnaia increases the chances of winning the World Championship, which is our goal – Dall”Igna’s words -. Anything can happen in racing, so having two drivers capable of fighting for the title is the best thing, also because our rivals have strengthened and it will be increasingly difficult to win. The goal was to keep both Martin and Marquez, but we knew it was difficult. We tried until the end, it was a very complicated decision and we have opted for Marc: it was a purely sporting choiceeven if there are those in the company who have certainly done it also for marketing reasons. Marc is a divisive character, but he has many fans in the world.”
when it was decided
—
The decision was complex, enough to make me lose sleep. “Now I hope to start to relax, because it was a complicated decision, from a sporting and human point of view, because no rider ever went out of line, nor was there any impropriety. I have changed my mind several times in recent days, but I am convinced that Marquez is the right choice. We have the best team in Ducati historythe decision was made on Sunday at Mugello and we also had little time to sort out the details of Marc’s contract, which is why we didn’t announce it immediately.”
Bagnaia-Marquez coexistence
—
Another hot topic will be coexistence with Bagnaia who has never expressed a preference on the choice of his future partner, limiting himself to saying that he likes a figure who “does not ruin the environment that has been created in the team because it took years to create it”. Here’s what Dall’Igna says: “From the point of view of development of the bike I’m not worried because we don’t look at just one rider, but we look at all the riders and Marquez is already helping us this year. Instead they are more concerned about sports management: the climate we now experience in the Ducati team is wonderful, the goal is to continue to have it next year too. Bagnaia has nothing to prove, he does fantastic things on the bike, he is our flag and in fact we signed the renewal before the start of the World Championship.”
pramac greetings
—
The Marquez move could lead to the farewell of the Pramac team, which Marc did not “consider as a viable option for his career” and from Igna he knows that it is a risk that Ducati can take. “Everyone is rooting for Pramac to do something different from Ducati and the risk of losing it for us is real: It would be a shame, Pramac and Campinoti have been with us for a long time and they are part of our success – says Dall’Igna -. Everything needs to be evaluated, but the problem exists.”
I support Martin
—
From now until the end of the season, Jorge Martin, world championship leader with 18 points over Bagnaia, will race almost separately at Ducati, but with the chance to play for the title: Dall’Igna has no doubts that his management will be crystal clear: ” We are sportsmen, nothing can be said about Ducati’s management of customer motorbikes in recent years: everyone has had the opportunity to express their talent and grow with our motorbikes. It will be the same for us Martin: He will not lack our technical and human support“.
bastianini unlucky
—
The crock of Ducati’s choice was Bastianini, to whom Dall’Igna dedicated beautiful words: “Enea did wonderful things in Ducati with a private team and a beautiful path arriving in the official team, but he had bad luck: the first season he lost due to an accident in the first race and didn’t have the opportunity to prove his worth. We had two titans fighting and Bastianini was left aside.”
Don’t miss the entire new season of Formula 1® and MotoGP™ live streaming only on NOW! Activate the Sports Pass from €14.99 per month and enjoy Sky sports in streaming!
equal treatment
—
Equal treatment in the team is not in question, Dall’Igna is convinced of this: “Bagnaia and Marquez they are two champions, they have great determination, they know how to suffer and they will play it on equal terms. It will be a great World Championship: the fans at home will have fun watching our drivers fight on the track.”
