More “paddock rumours” on Crash. Pramac may still go to Yamaha and then Gresini and VR46 will get one factory bike each. I saw something earlier in the week that Pramac had become less likely to go to Yamaha though. There was an interview with Pit Beirer also on Crash downplaying the likelihood of MM going to KTM, saying MM won’t want to start with a new bike again having gone back to being competitive which was all he wanted when they last spoke at the end of last year; he would say that I guess regardless. The Crash clickbait header suggested they wouldn’t want him interfering with Acosta, their new much younger MM, which is imo likely to be true, but didn’t actually quote Pit as saying that. I guess whatever happens MM is likely to be able to be on a factory bike if Ducati wants him to be, although Bagnaia vs Martin vs MM all on factory bikes would likely be a ferocious contest with all 3 winning multiple races which might put Bastianini on an Aprilia or Acosta on a KTM in with a chance.
It will be interesting to see whether the new regime changes things, but while Dorna were happy for Honda to supply multiple bikes in the past when no one else wanted to supply them Ducati seem to have an entrenched advantage in the current formula gained at least partly because of concessions which were given to them. The satellite bikes also seem to be a help to the quality of their bike if not to the prospects of their lead factory rider. If they are going to continue not allowing KTM or Yamaha to have new slots on the grid, which is probably reasonable imo, then it is going to be difficult to get any of the existing Ducati satellite teams to switch brands given as has been said the second best bike on the grid is a 1 year old Ducati. Satellite team riders have won races on 1 year old Ducatis in recent seasons, with race wins something they could barely hope for under previous regimes and which mostly required unusual circumstances such as wet races.
It will be interesting to see whether the new regime changes things, but while Dorna were happy for Honda to supply multiple bikes in the past when no one else wanted to supply them Ducati seem to have an entrenched advantage in the current formula gained at least partly because of concessions which were given to them. The satellite bikes also seem to be a help to the quality of their bike if not to the prospects of their lead factory rider. If they are going to continue not allowing KTM or Yamaha to have new slots on the grid, which is probably reasonable imo, then it is going to be difficult to get any of the existing Ducati satellite teams to switch brands given as has been said the second best bike on the grid is a 1 year old Ducati. Satellite team riders have won races on 1 year old Ducatis in recent seasons, with race wins something they could barely hope for under previous regimes and which mostly required unusual circumstances such as wet races.
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