Published: 22 Jul 2024
Losing Three Top MotoGP Riders - Ducati: "Not Everything Went to Plan"
Ducati will lose three of its top MotoGP riders. Sports Director Mauro Grassilli reveals Ducati originally planned to renew with two of them.
Following Marc Marquez’s signing onto the factory Ducati squad, things have been going haywire at the Bologna manufacturer.
Having been stripped of his factory Ducati seat for 2025, Enea Bastianini docked with KTM, and the disappointed and overlooked Jorge Martin fled to the Aprilia factory team.
Marco Bezzecchi soon followed the Spaniard, making Ducati lose three of their top MotoGP riders. On top of that, Pramac’s departure to Yamaha means Ducati will also lose two bikes on the MotoGP grid.
Strengthen its rivals Aprilia, KTM, and Yamaha for the medium-term future, Ducati will leave the silly season heavily weakened for 2025.
The newly appointed Ducati Sporting Director Mauro Grassilli admits that in his first months with the team, not everything went to plan.
“When I took over this job, I tried to leave everything as it is for next year. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out,” he explained.
“It’s a shame that we can’t continue with Pramac in the future. Firstly, for economic reasons, but also personal and professional reasons.”
“Then we only had one seat on our red motorbike to allocate,” added the top manager. “By signing one rider, we lost two. It was clear we’d lose one, but we lost two, which was unfortunate. “
