2025 Silly Season

Aprilia- Fabio and Enea although it will be hard to let Mav go.

KTM - Binder and the shark obviously

Pramac- Marc and the Rookie

Duc- Prosecco and Martini

Gasgas- Abolino and Mav?!!?!?

Yamaha- not Mav not Fabio

I think the only way Ducati pick Martin as Pecco's teammate is if Jorge is leading the championship with some degree of comfort by the time the decision is to be made. But if that's not the case and Enea proves to be competitive, they might insist in keeping the current duo - after Jorge Lorenzo's Ducati stint, it seems like they just want to keep a clear rider #1 and a supporting #2 dynamic with less room for intra-team drama, much like Red Bull in F1. I agree about them offering a Pramac seat to Marc (provided Marc ends up with a solid campaign), if only as to not rock the boat of the factory team and to prevent him from going to a non Japanese competitor, whether Marc would like to ride for satellite teams another two more years is up to him. He could also insist in getting a GP25 as a Gresini rider if the rumors of Pramac only running one factory bike for the next season is true, in case he values the atmosphere of his current team.

Regardless of the situation, Ducati has a plethora of choices and they're going to have to think well about it. Letting both Jorge and Marc walk away in the same summer for the sake of team dynamics would be a grave mistake.

Let's see...

Ducati factory keep Frantisek and Bestia.
Now that he's no longer impacted by injury we can see that Enea still knows how to ride a bike.
I don't think Ducati wants Jorge and if I was him I wouldn't want to go to a team where I'll play second fiddle to the golden boy.

KTM - Brad and Pedro
Not much to discuss here. I agreed with them not moving Pedro to the works team as a rookie because it allows him to develop without pressure. They'll move him up next year for sure.

Aprilia - Martin and Fabio
Aleix and Maverick are solid but they won't win championships for Aprilia. Let's be bold and swap both out.
What a lethal combo this would be...

Yamaha - Rins and DiGiannantonio
The other Fabio would be a solid replacement.

Honda - Mir and Alonso Lopez

Pramac - Aldeguer ('25) and Aleix ('24)
Depending on how his Moto2 season goes I could see them give him the new bike straightaway. Old guy as a teammate to mentor him.

Gresini - Marc ('25) and Alex ('24)
If stuff works why change it.

GasGas - Jack and Canet
If Jack gets more results like today I think he'll remain in the championship for another year. But not as a factory rider.
Canet is one of the favorites for the Moto2 title and this is where i think he could end up.

Trackhouse - Maverick and Raul
One of them deals where he gets full works material but they gotta make room for the two new factory guys.

VR46 Yamaha (?) - Bezzecchi and Marini
Marini will be thrown a lifeline by his brother and be glad to take it.

LCR Honda - Zarco and Ogura
Zarco has a two-year contract and this could be the year Ai is ready to move up.

Morbidelli and Oliveira are SBK-bound. I said before the season that Augusto is under massive pressure with Pedro as a teammate and so far it ain't looking good.

Of course it's difficult to predict who will perform in Moto2 and get the opportunity to move up.

I like that you put Canet in there. I'd love to see him get a shot.

JFM01 said:

Let's see...

Ducati factory keep Frantisek and Bestia.
Now that he's no longer impacted by injury we can see that Enea still knows how to ride a bike.
I don't think Ducati wants Jorge and if I was him I wouldn't want to go to a team where I'll play second fiddle to the golden boy.

KTM - Brad and Pedro
Not much to discuss here. I agreed with them not moving Pedro to the works team as a rookie because it allows him to develop without pressure. They'll move him up next year for sure.

Aprilia - Martin and Fabio
Aleix and Maverick are solid but they won't win championships for Aprilia. Let's be bold and swap both out.
What a lethal combo this would be...

Yamaha - Rins and DiGiannantonio
The other Fabio would be a solid replacement.

Honda - Mir and Alonso Lopez

Pramac - Aldeguer ('25) and Aleix ('24)
Depending on how his Moto2 season goes I could see them give him the new bike straightaway. Old guy as a teammate to mentor him.

Gresini - Marc ('25) and Alex ('24)
If stuff works why change it.

GasGas - Jack and Canet
If Jack gets more results like today I think he'll remain in the championship for another year. But not as a factory rider.
Canet is one of the favorites for the Moto2 title and this is where i think he could end up.

Trackhouse - Maverick and Raul
One of them deals where he gets full works material but they gotta make room for the two new factory guys.

VR46 Yamaha (?) - Bezzecchi and Marini
Marini will be thrown a lifeline by his brother and be glad to take it.

LCR Honda - Zarco and Ogura
Zarco has a two-year contract and this could be the year Ai is ready to move up.

Morbidelli and Oliveira are SBK-bound. I said before the season that Augusto is under massive pressure with Pedro as a teammate and so far it ain't looking good.

Of course it's difficult to predict who will perform in Moto2 and get the opportunity to move up.

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Great analysis. Marini has a 2 year contract at Honda but as we know contracts can terminate early

MdubSTYLIE said:

I like that you put Canet in there. I'd love to see him get a shot.

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I think he and the two SpeedUp guys are the most likely title contenders in Moto2.
I believe yesterday was a breakthrough win that he'll follow up with more.

I know Portimao is the track where he got his sole win but if he can follow up yesterday's podium finish with more Roberts could be a candidate for Trackhouse. I don't think he's championship material but a semi-decent American rider might be too big of an opportunity to pass on.
If Chantra ends up having a better season than Ai he could end up at LCR as well.

MdubSTYLIE said:

Aprilia- Fabio and Enea although it will be hard to let Mav go.

KTM - Binder and the shark obviously

Pramac- Marc and the Rookie

Duc- Prosecco and Martini

Gasgas- Abolino and Mav?!!?!?

Yamaha- not Mav not Fabio

Click to expand...

JFM01 said:

Let's see...

Ducati factory keep Frantisek and Bestia.
Now that he's no longer impacted by injury we can see that Enea still knows how to ride a bike.
I don't think Ducati wants Jorge and if I was him I wouldn't want to go to a team where I'll play second fiddle to the golden boy.

KTM - Brad and Pedro
Not much to discuss here. I agreed with them not moving Pedro to the works team as a rookie because it allows him to develop without pressure. They'll move him up next year for sure.

Aprilia - Martin and Fabio
Aleix and Maverick are solid but they won't win championships for Aprilia. Let's be bold and swap both out.
What a lethal combo this would be...

Yamaha - Rins and DiGiannantonio
The other Fabio would be a solid replacement.

Honda - Mir and Alonso Lopez

Pramac - Aldeguer ('25) and Aleix ('24)
Depending on how his Moto2 season goes I could see them give him the new bike straightaway. Old guy as a teammate to mentor him.

Gresini - Marc ('25) and Alex ('24)
If stuff works why change it.

GasGas - Jack and Canet
If Jack gets more results like today I think he'll remain in the championship for another year. But not as a factory rider.
Canet is one of the favorites for the Moto2 title and this is where i think he could end up.

Trackhouse - Maverick and Raul
One of them deals where he gets full works material but they gotta make room for the two new factory guys.

VR46 Yamaha (?) - Bezzecchi and Marini
Marini will be thrown a lifeline by his brother and be glad to take it.

LCR Honda - Zarco and Ogura
Zarco has a two-year contract and this could be the year Ai is ready to move up.

Morbidelli and Oliveira are SBK-bound. I said before the season that Augusto is under massive pressure with Pedro as a teammate and so far it ain't looking good.

Of course it's difficult to predict who will perform in Moto2 and get the opportunity to move up.

Click to expand...

Both interesting posts.

Yamaha - Rins and Mir imo. Yamaha would take a world champ over Diggia, and Mir has proven experience on an I4.

Ducati - Pecco and Marc. I think if Bestia keeps it up there is a strong chance he keeps the ride, in which case Marc would be at Pramac i'm guessing

KTM - Brad & Pedro. Done deal

Aprilia - I like and agree with your choice. Martin is a great buddy of Aleix so I think Aleix would convince Aprilia to take him, even if it means he becomes a test rider. Fabio would be too good a rider to miss out on too. I think he would have to take a budget cut for the ride though, and the lingering doubt in my mind would be 'Can he ride a V4?'

Honda - Marini and Taka?

Pramac - Bestia and Aldeguer (Or Marc, whoever doesn't get the factory ride gets the GP25 at Pramac)

Gresini - Alex M and ? I agree if they could get a GP25 then Marc, but I have my doubts given Gresini have not run as a 'factory' supported team like Pramac have.

VR46 - Yamaha with Bezz and Vietti

Trackhouse - Vinales & Raul

LCR - As you said, Zarco & Ogura

MdubSTYLIE said:

I like that you put Canet in there. I'd love to see him get a shot.

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He finally got to the top step of the podium but he's another one that chucks it way too often. May have to call him Canetlow(es).

JFM01 said:

Roberts could be a candidate for Trackhouse.

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His ass is still black and blue from his kicking himself for not taking the Aprilia seat when he had the chance. That said I don't think he'd do any worse than the current Trackhouse lineup and who knows, maybe he'd take to the bigger bike.

PRS717 said:

His ass is still black and blue from his kicking himself for not taking the Aprilia seat when he had the chance.

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I don't think it is. Had he taken that seat he'd no longer be in the world championship right now. Likely would've been nowhere near Aleix and they would've canned him mid-season to make room for Mav.

Pramac have a Ducati quit clause

Pramac have Ducati quit clause; talks revealed with two rival manufacturers

Apparently, and the only source I have is a thread on Reddit, is Paulo Campinoti wanted to sign Marc Marquez, but his team have to get approval from Ducati whereas Gresini do not, and he is pissed about having to take Franco Morbidelli instead.

#22 said:

Pramac have a Ducati quit clause

Pramac have Ducati quit clause; talks revealed with two rival manufacturers

Apparently, and the only source I have is a thread on Reddit, is Paulo Campinoti wanted to sign Marc Marquez, but his team have to get approval from Ducati whereas Gresini do not, and he is pissed about having to take Franco Morbidelli instead.

Click to expand...

Not sure what the "quit clause" is, trying to make headlines? Their contracts up like LCR and VR46
Jarvis talking a month ago.

#22 said:

Pramac have a Ducati quit clause

Pramac have Ducati quit clause; talks revealed with two rival manufacturers

Apparently, and the only source I have is a thread on Reddit, is Paulo Campinoti wanted to sign Marc Marquez, but his team have to get approval from Ducati whereas Gresini do not, and he is pissed about having to take Franco Morbidelli instead.

Click to expand...

iirc Marc wanted to go to gresini to have less pressure. Strange Paulo would say this.

surendhar said:

iirc Marc wanted to go to gresini to have less pressure. Strange Paulo would say this.

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I do doubt that Marc actually preferred Gresini over Pramac. I think Marc would say that because he would be stupid not to. There is a benefit of less pressure and certainy a silver lining but at Pramac he would have a current spec bike, more Ducati engineers, and some (however small) input on any changes to the bike. Marc wants to win another championship above all else. If he does it on a 23 Ducati, however unlikely that may be then it not only equals Rossi's title numbers but leaves little argument about who has been greater between the two.

p4p1 said:

I do doubt that Marc actually preferred Gresini over Pramac. I think Marc would say that because he would be stupid not to. There is a benefit of less pressure and certainy a silver lining but at Pramac he would have a current spec bike, more Ducati engineers, and some (however small) input on any changes to the bike. Marc wants to win another championship above all else. If he does it on a 23 Ducati, however unlikely that may be then it not only equals Rossi's title numbers but leaves little argument about who has been greater between the two.

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There is no argument as it stands, between those who look at racing objectively.
Marquez has done it without overnight special tyres like Rossi did early on and has done if against a more competetive field and for several of his titles with a machinery disadvantage.
That is without looking at what Marquez has been able to with the front end of a motorcycle before the advent of aero and ride height that negates that ability to a large extent. The head to head is all Marquez also but Rossi was past his best by then.

warthog1 said:

There is no argument as it stands, between those who look at racing objectively.
Marquez has done it without overnight special tyres like Rossi did early on and has done if against a more competetive field and for several of his titles with a machinery disadvantage.
That is without looking at what Marquez has been able to with the front end of a motorcycle before the advent of aero and ride height that negates that ability to a large extent. The head to head is all Marquez also but Rossi was past his best by then.

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I completely agree, but my point was that if he was to do it this year, or even next on a currrent spec bike, it leaves little to no argument of who is greater.

p4p1 said:

I completely agree, but my point was that if he was to do it this year, or even next on a currrent spec bike, it leaves little to no argument of who is greater.

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Better be this year. Next year with a more experienced Pedro and Fabio on a competitive bike and a still hungry Martin, I don’t see it happening. That is some impressive field of talent.

Keshav said:

Better be this year. Next year with a more experienced Pedro and Fabio on a competitive bike and a still hungry Martin, I don’t see it happening. That is some impressive field of talent.

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I know it's early days but if Pedro shows the improvement from year 1 to year 2 that he did in Moto2, look out.

I'm getting the impression that we will see M Marquez stay with Gresini for 2025 but on a 2025 Ducati. We can't read too much into what the press are putting out so take this Crash article with a pinch of salt which basically says that the second seat at Ducati's factory team is between Quartararo, Martin and Bastainini, no mention of M Marquez as a contender for the seat

Man, talk about pressure!