Overnight some significant pieces of the rider market in MotoGp fell into place.
Firstly, in a move that surprised many, myself included, championship leader, Jorge Martin, announced his departure from the Ducati camp to join Aprilia, replacing the retiring Aleix Espargaro. Clearly the desire to be riding a “factory” bike over-rode the possibility (however slim) that he was not going to get that chance at Ducati. Added to that, we may be sure that the financial inducement on offer at Aprilia would be pretty hard to resist. The fact is that the move makes sense. He gets to be the “Captain” at Aprilia, leapfrogging the inconsistent Vinales into the #1 spot and posing a serious threat to the dominant Ducatis once he has sorted the differences.
So that leaves the not-yet vacant seat at Lenovo up for grabs. In spite of his excellent ride at Mugello, it is equally clear that Enea has ceased to be the flavour of the month at Ducati for whatever reason. Yes, he is inconsistent but he IS fast, he DOES know the bike and he IS Italian but that’s not really enough. Given how long the speculation about his being replaced has been going on, I can’t help thinking that he has blotted his copybook behind the scenes somehow and Ducati has been planning his departure for some time.
So, with Enea’s imminent departure and Martin to Aprilia, it leaves the door open for Marquez to join the factory team, something he has said from Day One that he wanted to do. Given that we have just seen the 7th round of the championship take place and given Marc’s impressive adaption to a totally different bike to the lamentable Honda, Ducati would be crazy not to snap him up. In any event, if they DIDN’T, who else is in the frame?
Now I will be the first to put my had up and admit that I predicted this all wrong. But it certainly will be interesting if it happens.
Oh, and another piece of the jigsaw fell into place last night with the announcement that the aforementioned Bastianini will be joining Pedrobot #2 at KTM. And KTM will be running 4 identical bike next year, too. Clearly Jack’s time in MotoGp is coming to an end but don’t be surprised that he finds a testing role, he’s very good at that. And the rumour that Joan Mir’s increasing dissatisfaction with Honda may lead to his departure from the paddock altogether also poses the interesting question of who the hell would want be the rider to replace him.
The jigsaw is far from complete but some major pieces are now in place.
