2025 Silly Season

MotoGP Forum

Help Support MotoGP Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
warthog1 said:
Yep it seems the owners of Ducati are most displeased with having Marquez on a Ducati.
Hmm they own Audi too. They are also displeased to be associated with Marquez. They gave him a car to keep him quiet


Ducati and Audi are both part of the Volkswagen Group, smoothing the process for the Marquez brothers to land this new sponsorship.

“We are very proud that they are ambassadors for Audi and that they ride a Ducati,” Audi managing director José Miguel Aparicio said.

Audi, through their partnership with Ducati, are now on the list of Marquez’s sponsors too.

www.crash.net

Marc Marquez given Audi worth six figures as he pens new sponsorship deal

Audi pen sponsorship deal with Marc Marquez and Alex Marquez
www.crash.net www.crash.net
Click to expand...
Well, that certainly adds fuel to the factory Ducati fire!

Also, old news, but Martin is almost certainly gone from Pramac after this yr:

Martin’s time with Pramac MotoGP team ‘like it or not has come to an end'
 
#22 said:
Speculating is fine, but posting something as fact or 'right' without evidence of such, is not.

They are going to have to rock the boat one way or another, because if not Marc, then very likely it will be Martin on the other side of the garage.
Click to expand...
I agree with you. I did say speculation is what it was.

I am a fan of MM over anyone else on the current grid myself of course, but could see him staying at Gresini with Alex and with full factory support as others have said.. As Warthog says the Audi sponsorship for him and Alex which I had also seen hardly suggests displeasure with him in the VW Audi group which owns Ducati.

Martin is the one who has shown signs of being peeved with Ducati. I guess if he wins the title this year he may join Bagnaia on the factory team on a fairly even footing, but I could see him him going elsewhere if he doesn't win.
 
michaelm said:
I agree with you. I did say speculation is what it was.

I am a fan of MM over anyone else on the current grid myself of course, but could see him staying at Gresini with Alex and with full factory support as others have said.. As Warthog says the Audi sponsorship for him and Alex which I had also seen hardly suggests displeasure with him in the VW Audi group which owns Ducati.
Click to expand...
Audi/VW owns Ducati but they are not Ducati Corse. Let's see what happens.

About the polemic, I began that post of mine saying "I'm sure..." it supposedly and automatically places my say as an opinion, unless English is different on this regard, somehow. If this is the case, I'm sorry for my mistake, but if not, some guys need to learn better text interpretation though. "I'm sure this and that will happen and I'm sure this is as such and bla bla bla" does that sounds as a FACT? At least in Portuguese, it would never means a fact.
 
I'm not going to waste significant time arguing about it, but your inference is that statements you have heard are correct, whereas mine are not. As I noted, you conveniently no longer have a link to the website that supported your claims, whereas I posted a link showing that Ciabatti was moved to head up the Mx division, not because he has a dislike for Marc Marquez to the point where he would leave his job.

Warthog1 also posted a link that further proves Ducati are not unhappy with having Marc Marquez as a rider.
 
#22 said:
I'm not going to waste significant time arguing about it, but your inference is that statements you have heard are correct, whereas mine are not. As I noted, you conveniently no longer have a link to the website that supported your claims, whereas I posted a link showing that Ciabatti was moved to head up the Mx division, not because he has a dislike for Marc Marquez to the point where he would leave his job.

Warthog1 also posted a link that further proves Ducati are not unhappy with having Marc Marquez as a rider.
Click to expand...
I searched all over the internet for that website and couldn't find it anymore. What else can I do? If you don't know about how SEO works, it works as this: old blog posts (pages - weeks or months ago) starts to vanish from indexation as soon as new information lands, this can take a couple of days. I read this .... 7 to 8 weeks ago. So I'm sorry man but I couldn't find it anymore, as far as it was an Italian page and I don't know how to search in Italian terms, since when you query for "ducati marc marquez marmorini bartolini ciabatti etc.." it gives you a million results and each one of them from the last month at most. If you think I'm here to lie, that I invented all of this, ok mate. So I'm a liar, I must have dreamt about this or had hallucinations. That must be what happened. I'm gonna make an appointment with a psychiatrist then. Thank you.

Let me clarify one more thing, why I'm sure Ducati Corse won't be happy with MM landing in the factory team. It starts with the VR episode, but now it has all to do with Pecco. He's very dear to Ducati Corse, engineers, employees.. guy has reached idol status inside Bologna (do you need a source for this?). While some heads at Ducati Corse would be happy having MM alongside Pecco, there are a couple of them that would not be so happy to affront Pecco in that way. That's for sure. What could happen from there on? Who knows... more exodus? It's a fact, now, that when MM at Gresini began to pop up, there were so much discomfort at Ducati, so much so that even Dalligna came to say on the media he had nothing to do with it (do you a need a source for this too? it popped everywhere.. c'mom.), despite being happy with MM riding his bike. Why do you think he came to say such a thing? Cause it generated a lot of heat inside Ducati Corse. Then, it's very clear to me that if MM at Gresini had brought about a lot of discomfort, imagine what could happen if he eventually gets to the factory team. Would Pecco be happy? Would Pecco fanbase inside Ducati be happy? Ducati has lost a lot of expertise already (the biggest lost in a given time being last year post MM-Gresini annoucement. Coincidence?). Will they create more heat inside Corse? That's my point.
 
So they just need to give a factory spec bike to MM and make him stay where he is, and that's it. Also, Martin should be at Ducati factory next year, he not only deserves it but if Ducati don't do this, he'll go to another brand and immediately become a very strong rival.
 
gui22a said:
Audi/VW owns Ducati but they are not Ducati Corse. Let's see what happens.

About the polemic, I began that post of mine saying "I'm sure..." it supposedly and automatically places my say as an opinion, unless English is different on this regard, somehow. If this is the case, I'm sorry for my mistake, but if not, some guys need to learn better text interpretation though. "I'm sure this and that will happen and I'm sure this is as such and bla bla bla" does that sounds as a FACT? At least in Portuguese, it would never means a fact.
Click to expand...
In English "I'm sure" tends to mean you can back it up with proof. "I think" "in my opinion" "I feel" would be better phrases for something you believe to be true.
 
gui22a said:
So they just need to give a factory spec bike to MM and make him stay where he is, and that's it. Also, Martin should be at Ducati factory next year, he not only deserves it but if Ducati don't do this, he'll go to another brand and immediately become a very strong rival.
Click to expand...
As noted earlier in this thread, it appears Ducati are cutting back on spending. So, never say never, but I see it as unlikely Marc gets a full factory ride at Gresini save for his sponsors coming onboard and footing the bill. It's not just the cost either. Even with a 'factory' bike, you still aren't getting the same level of support as a full factory rider does.
As with everything, time will tell!
 
gui22a said:
Audi/VW owns Ducati but they are not Ducati Corse. Let's see what happens.

About the polemic, I began that post of mine saying "I'm sure..." it supposedly and automatically places my say as an opinion, unless English is different on this regard, somehow. If this is the case, I'm sorry for my mistake, but if not, some guys need to learn better text interpretation though. "I'm sure this and that will happen and I'm sure this is as such and bla bla bla" does that sounds as a FACT? At least in Portuguese, it would never means a fact.
Click to expand...
I am sure you’re Italian and Portuguese are much better than mine, it always amazes me when people are so fluent in multiple languages.

Yes “for sure” seems to be an inadequate English translation of an Italian idiom, and is much used by Italian bike riders, and Valentino in particular was always saying it.
 
gui22a said:
I searched all over the internet for that website and couldn't find it anymore. What else can I do? If you don't know about how SEO works, it works as this: old blog posts (pages - weeks or months ago) starts to vanish from indexation as soon as new information lands, this can take a couple of days. I read this .... 7 to 8 weeks ago. So I'm sorry man but I couldn't find it anymore, as far as it was an Italian page and I don't know how to search in Italian terms, since when you query for "ducati marc marquez marmorini bartolini ciabatti etc.." it gives you a million results and each one of them from the last month at most. If you think I'm here to lie, that I invented all of this, ok mate. So I'm a liar, I must have dreamt about this or had hallucinations. That must be what happened. I'm gonna make an appointment with a psychiatrist then. Thank you.

Let me clarify one more thing, why I'm sure Ducati Corse won't be happy with MM landing in the factory team. It starts with the VR episode, but now it has all to do with Pecco. He's very dear to Ducati Corse, engineers, employees.. guy has reached idol status inside Bologna (do you need a source for this?). While some heads at Ducati Corse would be happy having MM alongside Pecco, there are a couple of them that would not be so happy to affront Pecco in that way. That's for sure. What could happen from there on? Who knows... more exodus? It's a fact, now, that when MM at Gresini began to pop up, there were so much discomfort at Ducati, so much so that even Dalligna came to say on the media he had nothing to do with it (do you a need a source for this too? it popped everywhere.. c'mom.), despite being happy with MM riding his bike. Why do you think he came to say such a thing? Cause it generated a lot of heat inside Ducati Corse. Then, it's very clear to me that if MM at Gresini had brought about a lot of discomfort, imagine what could happen if he eventually gets to the factory team. Would Pecco be happy? Would Pecco fanbase inside Ducati be happy? Ducati has lost a lot of expertise already (the biggest lost in a given time being last year post MM-Gresini annoucement. Coincidence?). Will they create more heat inside Corse? That's my point.
Click to expand...
I agree, it would be strange to put MM who won all his titles on a Honda and most recently 5 years ago on the factory team if Bagnaia threepeats extending his record as the most successful Ducati GP rider. My feeling is that Martin is gone from Ducati unless he wins the title for Pramac, he will probably not unreasonably consider himself to have been disadvantaged by not having a full factory ride. If he wins he will more likely go to the factory team on a fairly equal footing with Bagnaia.

For MM it will depend on what he wants himself and how successful his season is imo. If he wins the title on a year old Ducati which even as a fan I consider unlikelly although how consistent he can be should not be underestimated, all choices probably including the Ducati factory team will be open to him. He will likely have a wide range of choices if he is even strongly competitive though. The most likely full factory satellite ride for me is probably with KTM, particularly given the Red Bull connection, who tmight actually give him full factory support a la the Azzurro Honda team.
 
Last edited:
gui22a said:
So they just need to give a factory spec bike to MM and make him stay where he is, and that's it. Also, Martin should be at Ducati factory next year, he not only deserves it but if Ducati don't do this, he'll go to another brand and immediately become a very strong rival.
Click to expand...
Will he though?
He was excellent last year but very meh the 2 previous seasons. In fact Marquez only scored 40 points less in 2022 despite not starting 8 out of the 20 races. Martin has only ever ridden on the best bike on he grid.
He has started this year very well but is Martin immediately a threat if he goes to KTM? Probably not at first and there won’t be a factory seat there for him.. Aprilia? Unlikely. Honda? Lol Yamaha? Lol.

Like I have said before, Ducati hold all the cards. Martin may be unhappy if he doesn’t get a factory seat but where else is he going to get a seat on a championship worthy bike? Does he offer more than Marquez in terms of results if something was to happen to Pecco during the season? The jury will be out on that for some time but he doesn’t bring in the same sponsorship that Marquez does and if Ducati are looking at cutting costs, then that is a major advantage.

Sometimes you sign the guy to your team just because he could be your biggest threat on another factory bike. Martin is unproven on diffIcult or hard to ride bikes. Marquez is a proven world champion on difficult, hard to ride bikes and bikes that aren’t the best on the grid. He a race winner on a bike that is a pile of ..... Marquez poses a bigger threat to Ducati if he goes to Aprilia (who could probably really do with the sponsorship money) or KTM.

Stranger things have happened but it’s unlikely that the Ducati won’t carry on being the best bike on the grid before the rule changes come in.
 
#22 said:
As MichaelM said, your English is a lot better than my Portugese, so I apologise if I came across as attacking you. Sometimes we are maybe too sensitive to perceived Marquez bashers on here.
Click to expand...
quit being a ...., .....
 
Regarding signing another rider to prevent them being on another factory bike. I believe Gigi Dallignia has said this exact thing about Marquez before.

Martin's stock is high right now, but as you point out, he is an unknown on another bike and I think gone are the days where riders swap manufaturers and win right away, like Rossi and Stoner did.

Lorenzo took 18 months to win the the Ducati, Zarco was useless on the KTM to the point where they said they will never hire another rider without V4 experience again. Pol Espargaro failed in his switch from KTM to Honda, the list goes on.

As you noted, Ducati hold all the cards and it has been stated in a few places online that they aren't overly impressed with Martin's comments about the factory last yr.
 
warthog1 said:
I don't. Tired of reading speculative posts that don't match objective evidence and having no evidence provided to support them. Reading them once maybe, but not when they are repeated ad nauseum with no source or evidence provided.
Click to expand...
Sounds like you are reading that thread that I’m ignoring :)
 
Opinion - Gigi is getting older and loosing the desire to live in hotel rooms all over the world. An Italy based job is more appealing

Speculation - the motorcycle press love to create their own news so you never know what’s real and what’s BS such as the news article that says that Quartsraro is talking to Aprilia
 

Similar threads

#22
MotoGP Lineup 2025.
2 3
Replies
45
Views
4K
Sennas_Caress
S
mikesbytes
2024 season by math's
Replies
19
Views
852
AnnoyingTwit
AnnoyingTwit
#22
2024 Season warmup - Let's go!
18 19 20
Replies
385
Views
12K
JFM01
J
#22
2024 silly season!
39 40 41
Replies
804
Views
27K
#22
#22
#22
MotoGP 2023 silly season.
4 5 6
Replies
108
Views
12K
#22
#22

Recent Discussions

Recent Discussions

Back
Top