Sport director Paolo Ciabatti is adamant that Ducati will not bring in anyone from outside for 2023 – Whether Miller will be replaced by Martin or Bastianini remains to be seen
With eight bikes, Ducati has set itself up the widest in terms of quantity. But only five of those riders are under contract with the Italian marque. Fabio di Giannantonio is employed by Gresini. And VR46 relies on its own riders with Luca Marini and Marco Bezzecchi.
Ducati sporting director Paolo Ciabatti insists that they will not be active on the rider market, but will continue to fill the factory team and Pramac places in 2023 with the riders currently under contract.
After Andrea Dovizioso said goodbye to Ducati at the end of 2020, they have repositioned themselves. Astronomical rider salaries are a thing of the past. Jorge Lorenzo earned around 30 million euros in two years (2017/18).
Also due to the coronavirus pandemic, Ducati has applied the austerity pencil. The combined base salary of Francesco Bagnaia, Jack Miller, Johann Zarco, Jorge Martin and Enea Bastianini was around three million euros last year. Added to this were success bonuses.
For the five riders, Ducati will spend around 4.3 million euros (excluding possible bonuses) in the 2022 season. Ducati is also not worried about the future because of the prospects of success with the Desmosedici GP22. They have no interest in signing riders from outside.
World Champion Fabio Quartararo in particular is not happy with Yamaha’s development. He expected much more for the Sepang test. Whether Joan Mir is flirting with a change is again uncertain, as he recently praised Suzuki for their development work.
“The riders we have now in the group are the future of Ducati. That goes for the factory team as well as for Pramac and the independent teams.” First of all, they want to extend Bagnaia’s contract for two more years before the start of the season (Qatar/6 March).
It remains to be seen what will happen with his current team-mate. Ducati wants to wait and see how Miller develops, but also how Martin and Bastianini manage their second MotoGP season. Both are candidates for the second place in the factory team in 2023.
“In this regard, we have to decide which two riders will make up the factory team,” Ciabatti said. “They will be those drivers who guarantee us the best chance of winning the drivers’ championship. “
