2025 Silly Season

Miller: “I left probably the most competitive bike on the grid to come over here and try to bring my knowledge and I feel like last year what we were already able to bring to improve the bike to a certain level was a big addition."

He almost makes it sound as if leaving Ducati was a choice he made out of the goodness of his heart and affections for KTM. :headscratch:

PRS717 said:

Miller: “I left probably the most competitive bike on the grid to come over here and try to bring my knowledge and I feel like last year what we were already able to bring to improve the bike to a certain level was a big addition."

He almost makes it sound as if leaving Ducati was a choice he made out of the goodness of his heart and affections for KTM. :headscratch:

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To be fair to him, they offered him Pramac, but he wanted to remain a factory rider and Aki Ajo made the connection…

Always the way, people want to be factory riders, even for lesser teams.

Funny how, now that option is closed, he's open to riding a customer Ducati.

Sadly, apart from marketing, I can't see anything he can offer a team.

synn said:

I don’t question the decision, just the way it was communicated. Not the first time KTM has done this.

They basically announced on air, during a race weekend that Petrucci and Lecuona were out of a job. Just shameful.

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The Petrucci and Lecuona announcement was bad. I wholeheartedly agree.

Here, Viñales jumped ship after Martin was announced, it seems.

So KTM might have been planning to go with Miller, then chose to twist quickly.

With all the different media outlets more or less being able to forward news within minutes, a few hours was possibly the timeframe they had?

#22 said:

I agree about Vinales. It's going to end in tears, like every team he has ridden for bar Suzuki.

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He had a decent end to his Aprilia contract, I'd argue

Sennas_Caress said:

He had a decent end to his Aprilia contract, I'd argue

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I'd argue the opposite. He has left the team through an emotional decision because he felt 'disrespected' after they didn't tell him they were going to sign Martin, when there was a small window to sign him and it it doubtful that anyone was told. He always knew they were going to sign someone to replace Aleix, and in reality is was highly likely to be Marc Marquez, or possibly Enea Bastiannini.

So, to act that that, to a team that pulled him out of the MotoGP scrap heap when he was literally the joke of the paddock for testing his Yamaha engine limiter out, is not a 'decent end' imo.

After reading all the posts above regarding all the current competitors signings (pending or in the bag), all I can say is that I wish I had any one of their problems !

#22 said:

I'd argue the opposite. He has left the team through an emotional decision because he felt 'disrespected' after they didn't tell him they were going to sign Martin, when there was a small window to sign him and it it doubtful that anyone was told. He always knew they were going to sign someone to replace Aleix, and in reality is was highly likely to be Marc Marquez, or possibly Enea Bastiannini.

So, to act that that, to a team that pulled him out of the MotoGP scrap heap when he was literally the joke of the paddock for testing his Yamaha engine limiter out, is not a 'decent end' imo.

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Do you think Mav looked into his future at Aprilia and saw a replay of his Yamaha stint with Jorge taking on the role Fabio played at Yamaha? Mav gets butt-hurt quite easily.

Sennas_Caress said:

Simon really dislikes KTM. One of the main reasons for me not listening to their podcasts is that they always find a way to have a negative KTM storyline.

Who would prefer Miller over Viñales or Bastianini for 2025?

I feel for Miller, I do. KTM though is in the business of winning. If the opportunity to sign said riders came up after they talked to Jack, would they have first had to clear the new business plan with Miller?

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I have followed Miller’s career and have been something of a fan, but he can have no complaint about KTM choosing the riders they chose over him, whom they probably didn’t see in prospect when they spoke to Jack. He has had a good run as he himself says, but has simply not performed this year. Obviously the promises were not worth the paper they weren’t written on, as is often the case in these situations.

Still agree with Synn in general, they have treated several well performed moto 2 riders badly, I was reminded that Raul Fernandez didn’t even want to go to Tech 3 KTM but they enforced a contract for that year then dumped him.

As I have said I do wonder how Bastianini and Vinales will find the KYM bike themselves, I have strong suspicions it is not all that good and certainly not an all round bike, and may have been flattered by Acosta, who could actually be the next generational rider, this season

michaelm said:

I have strong suspicions it is not all that good and certainly not an all round bike, and may have been flattered by Acosta

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Listening to Binder, it seems like they lost some of the front end feel they used to have, which most likely is due to the carbon chassis. They may find their way out of it eventually, but as of now they seem to have hit a wall that only Acosta can break through.

I don’t always agree with him but this is spot on:

#22 said:

Motorsport saying it's official too

https://www.motorsport.com/motogp/n...ha-satellite-team-from-2025-onwards/10627863/

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This is a great article. Details the entire saga chronologically.

PRS717 said:

Do you think Mav looked into his future at Aprilia and saw a replay of his Yamaha stint with Jorge taking on the role Fabio played at Yamaha? Mav gets butt-hurt quite easily.

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I think a lot of it was that, yes. He said himself in the press conference that it was an emotional decision.

#22 said:

I think a lot of it was that, yes. He said himself in the press conference that it was an emotional decision.

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Is it worth a watch? They are usually pretty vanilla.....................................except for that one time.

You're right, usually not worth watching unless you have nothing better to do, but the 2 conferences today were:

Bagnaia, Martin, Marquez

Vinales, Bastiannini, Bezzechi.

So quite a lot of tension and juice!

synn said:

I don’t always agree with him but this is spot on:

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Did Ciabatti leave Ducati completely? Was he so mad about his reassignment that he shanghai'ed the MotoGP team? Burned his rolodex and kicked his business partners' dogs?

Remember when Preziosi was reassigned by Ducati? Did Ducati switch to the aluminum frame because Preziosi departed and they couldn't make carbon work? or did Preziosi depart the GP team because Ducati dismantled his carbon MotoGP kingdom while the 2012 regulations were being renegotiated?

Ducati have been playing 3d chess for the last 10 years. Ducati are not unaware of the personnel and methodologies responsible for the team's ascent. History is repeating. New technical regulations have been (are being) negotiated. Ducati reassigned one of their most important people. Everything that person built is being dismantled. Though history is repeating, many journalists are classifying these goings-on as a series of inexplicable blunders by Ducati.

Nothing would be different if Ciabatti were still in the GP paddock. The unraveling of his business empire was negotiated. It's not falling apart because he left. He left because the builder does not need to preside or participate in the controlled demolition of his creation.

mylexicon said:

Nothing would be different if Ciabatti were still in the GP paddock. The unraveling of his business empire was negotiated. It's not falling apart because he left. He left because the builder does not need to preside or participate in the controlled demolition of his creation.

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Well, as far as Ciabatti is concerned, he got a promotion because he now reports directly to the CEO instead of CEO+1 . So he did well for himself and I’m happy for him.

As for Ducati MotoGP, Ciabatti’s policy was youth over experience. Which is now thrown out of the window. Is it a master stroke? Time will tell. But it is indeed undeniable that Ducati had 3 title contenders and possibly the best satellite team in the grid and they don’t anymore.

What if this was MM playing 4D chess?

He now has 2 less Ducati's to deal with...and eliminated a bit of his competition in the process...

synn said:

All this Toprak talk makes me think this is more about Kenan wanting to push Toprak to MotoGP than Toprak himself wanting it bad.

Which is a bit ironic because Kenan was smashing it in WSSP, went to Moto2, had a miserable time and went back to WSSP.

https://www.motorsport.com/motogp/n...-genuine-solution-for-a-motogp-team/10627559/

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But I read somewhere (possibly in Speedweek), its the other way. Seems Toprak is more confident based on his BMW start

mylexicon said:

Assuming he doesn't sustain a career-ender at HRC. If you ask Ben Spies, the assumption is a bit dubious. Electronics are more stable than they were when Ben's career ended, but Ben was like Toprak in that he was not known for crashing. If Toprak wants to ride an RC, he should be 100% sure he bounces well.



If money is the central issue in Toprak's supposed desire to step-up, it seems like Kenan didn't do a great job with the contract. BMW should be paying him so much for winning these races that they almost want him to leave. Maybe they negotiated for guarantee and championship, rather than proving the bike could win races and front-run?

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I don’t think being insufficiently fast was Ben‘s problem. He lost out to politics and the incompetence of his side of the Yamaha garage imo, didn’t they eventually find out he had been riding a bike with a broken chassis for quite a number of races ?.

I would take Ben’s pace as a motogp rider as a positive for Toprak, although things were different then, there were only 4 real factory bikes etc.