Paolo Ciabatti Explains Why Jorge Martin Won't Switch To Yamaha
Categories: MotoGP
Rumors have been circulating for weeks that Jorge Martin might leave Ducati. Paolo Ciabatti is confident he will remain with the Italians.
Having just taken his first-ever MotoGP Sprint win, Jorge Martin remains one of the hottest commodities on the MotoGP rider market for 2024.
The Spaniard is contracted to Ducati until the end of the 2024 season, however, the contract reportedly includes an exit clause that allows him to leave the Italians for another factory team.
Rumors surrounding a possible switch to Yamaha remain in the public eye. Martin’s statements earlier this year that he was open to anything did not help to calm the rumor mill.
Having lost the battle for the factory seat to Enea Bastianini, chances he could leave the Ducati structure have risen by quite a bit.
However, Martin was able to secure full factory support in the Pramac satellite team and has gotten the chance to fulfill a de facto ‘factory’ support role in the absence of Bastianini through injury.
Jorge Martin "likes to win"
Ducati Sporting Director Paolo Ciabatti doesn’t expect the Spaniard to leave a race-winning package in favour of getting the factory focus Yamaha can offer, quipping that ‘he likes to win’.
“Yeah sure, he has an option in the contract, we would like him to stay with Ducati,” Ciabatti told MotoGP.com.
“He’s one of the fastest young riders, and at the moment it doesn’t look like Yamaha has the bike to win the Championship.
“I’m sorry to say, but this is what it looks like at the moment. We don’t know about next year but at the moment he’s on a winning bike and I think he’d like to stay because he likes to win.”
“Honestly, we didn’t make any decision for the future. Unfortunately, Enea has been out for a few races so obviously, we’d like to keep all the riders with us. You know that the Gresini and VR46 riders are currently contracted to the team.
“So the contract with Pecco, Enea, Johann and Jorge. In principle we’re happy with all of them, it’s a bit too early for us to say, regarding the problem with Enea and the crash, it’s obviously delaying everything.”
