Sounds like he'll come good towards the end of the season, lets hope so
He's done well for Gresini Racing and hence the renewal. I'm wondering how he compares with Bastianini's 2022 season, I'm expecting Alex to have not done that well, Bastianini was fantastic last year.
Going to Pramac is bad for Zarco, if he doesn't go then Zarco will probably keep his spot but on the previous years bike. Staying at VR46 will be bad for Morbidelli
Bastianini's 2022 was better obviously, but it was also his second year on the bike.
Zarco is 5th in the standings with four podiums in nine starts, there's absolutely no reason he shouldn't continue to be in the championship. I can understand why Ducati needs to give Bezzecchi a 24-spec bike next year though and Zarco doesn't quite have the raw speed of his teammate.
MotoGP should feature the 22 (or 24 if the Dorna weren't blocking these spots for whatever reason) best riders in the world right now. A new rider coming in would have to be an improvement over the one going out and I'd still consider Franco good enough to be at the top level. I wouldn't consider any of the riders in the current field to be washed up.
That makes Zarco the 4th best ducati with pecco, his teammate, and Bezz ahead of him. Add the beast to the list of riders ahead of him unfortunately that makes him the odd man out. I also would put Tony Abolino on a gresini ahead of him. So there just isn't a place left for Zarco.
www.speedweek.com
www.crash.net
Not that it makes a huge difference but in 2021 wasn't he on a 2020 bike, then on a 2021 Gresini last yr?
I think 2 reasons:
I never did find online the video of him flipping his .... in practice at Jerez 2019.
2022 was referring to the race year. Both riders are/were riding previous year bikes.
That they did and that's helped Binder heaps
Gresini's bikes are always the Ducati from the previous year, even now.
In a sense I think that Dorna could let KTM lease the vacant slot for say 3 years as if anyone wants to enter MotoGP it will take them 3 years to get a bike ready to race anyway. Dorna and KTM could do a deal where the new satellite team doesn't get Dorna money.
I can't say I blame them. Ducati leveredged the hell out of Dorna and thr MSMA to get spec ECU amongst other things. WHile DOrna suck off Ducati, they seem to take KTM for granted when they are the 2nd best manufacturer in the sport right now and unlike Suzuki, Yamaha and Aprilia, are willing to spend more money and expand their presence.
MV Augusta? - Don't have the money or infrastructure to run GP
I'm guessing cost of subsidies from Dorna. But if you had more factories then I expect they'd make an exception.
