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Was really impressed with the late race charge from Bastianini. He went for it without being reckless with his moves, great stuff.

Quick question: why the blue livery for the Ducati factory boys? Got really confused watching the race highlights initially.

Big news with Martin moving to the factory Aprilia. How far off from the factory Ducati is that Aprilia bike? Do you reckon a front of the grid talent like Jorge could be the final piece of the puzzle for Aprilia to challenge more consistently for titles?

Does this mean we have some more clarity on where Marc will end up? Seeing as one of the top factory seats is now taken.

[Porschefire]

Originally Posted by ads11

Quick question: why the blue livery for the Ducati factory boys? Got really confused watching the race highlights initially.

The Ducati Lenovo team swapped the red livery for a special ‘Maglia Azzurra’ light blue livery for their home race at Mugello, to support the Italian national football team in Euro2024, in their sporting colours of blue, white and gold.

Originally Posted by ads11

Big news with Martin moving to the factory Aprilia. How far off from the factory Ducati is that Aprilia bike? Do you reckon a front of the grid talent like Jorge could be the final piece of the puzzle for Aprilia to challenge more consistently for titles?

The Aprilia is certainly fast on some racetracks but isn't consistent across all circuits. The Ducati, be it the GP24 or GP23 is by far the best bike on the grid and a reference for all the other manufacturers to improve their package.

Aleix has given his heart and soul to make Aprilia RS-GP what it is today and Jorge Martin is just the rider they need to make it more competitive and take the challenge to Ducati. He's young, fast, and brings a tonne of Ducati experience with him, which will be crucial for Aprilia's development next year. And of course, the heartache that he was overlooked for the Ducati factory seat that he desired!
The caveat, he's been riding the best bike on the grid since 2021 now so, it'll be a test for him as well as to how he can improve himself as a rider on a less competitive machine.

Originally Posted by ads11

Does this mean we have some more clarity on where Marc will end up? Seeing as one of the top factory seats is now taken.

With Martin's announcement, it is more or less confirmed that he will move to the Factory Ducati seat alongside Bagnaia. Unless Ducati management continue to keep faith in their all Italian lineup in Pecco and Bastianini (highly unlikely).

[ds.raikkonen]

Originally Posted by ads11

How far off from the factory Ducati is that Aprilia bike?

Does this mean we have some more clarity on where Marc will end up? Seeing as one of the top factory seats is now taken.

Forget about the factory GP24, even the GP23 trounced the Aprilias at Mugello, Marc finished 9 sec ahead of the quickest Aprilia of Vinales during the main race. But that's not a fair comparison as it was Marc, Diggia's GP23 finished 1.5 sec ahead of him!

Marc now only has the factory Ducati seat option, seeing KTM and Aprilia are already gone and he has already ruled out the Pramac GP25 option.

[ds.raikkonen]

It is done!! Marc will ride for Ducati Corse till the end of 2026!!

[aravind.anand]

Shocking move. I thought Jorge Martin with his performance both in 2023 season and 2024 season thus far was the one who will get that factory Ducati ride. Marquez initially said he wants the latest spec bike 'in any colour' for 2025, but then later changed his stance stating that Pramac team was not an option for him.

Jorge who was already disappointed the previous time when Ducati chose Enea Bastinini over him, decided he has had enough and walked to the Aprilia camp just a day ago.

Rumour has it that Enea is also heading to the Gas-Gas Tech3 KTM team - showing how bad Ducati has managed this rider market situation.

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Do folks reckon there's likely to be intra team fireworks within the Ducati pit like Yamaha had with Valentino and Jorge together?

[Porschefire]

Originally Posted by aravind.anand

showing how bad Ducati has managed this rider market situation.

It sure is Ducati's loss of two riders for the price of one, but I see it as a win for the sport. Before the 2027 regulations set in, we'll hopefully get to see two crackling seasons, where the current best riders are distributed across different manufacturers and taking the fight to Ducati.

Originally Posted by ads11

Do folks reckon there's likely to be intra team fireworks within the Ducati pit like Yamaha had with Valentino and Jorge together?

While the fireworks within the team is assured, I don't think it'll boil over like the Rossi-Lorenzo pair. Pecco is usually calm and composed, and likes his riding do the talking. But you never know, he's not had a teammate like Marc Marquez before so, the atmosphere in the Ducati paddock will not be the same for him as it was with Jack Miller before or is with Enea Bastianini now.

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Originally Posted by Porschefire

While the fireworks within the team is assured, I don't think it'll boil over like the Rossi-Lorenzo pair. Pecco is usually calm and composed, and likes his riding do the talking. But you never know, he's not had a teammate like Marc Marquez before so, the atmosphere in the Ducati paddock will not be the same for him as it was with Jack Miller before or is with Enea Bastianini now.

Right, so I basically had the impression that Pecco is a much more calm character so quite unlike the combustible pairing I mentioned earlier. I suppose we'll just have to see how it pans out.

Do garage politics play much of a role in MotoGP say the way you might have one side of the garage not exactly fully cooperating with the other a la F1?

[rajeevsulu]

It is better for Motogp this way.The best riders split across all the top manufacturers, atleast the European manufacturers who are the ones at the top anyways.

Pecco and Marc in one team could spice up the competition even more as to who is top dog in the team.It makes for a cracking couple of seasons in the offing.

Cheers

[AtheK]

So how many DNF next season for Marc and Pecco by taking down each other!

[Porschefire]

Originally Posted by ads11

Do garage politics play much of a role in MotoGP say the way you might have one side of the garage not exactly fully cooperating with the other a la F1?

It has happened with the Rossi-Lorenzo pair, both pit garages, already separated by a wall, stopped sharing data with each other. While the information was available for the engineers back at Yamaha HQ, the teams inside the garages worked independently from a technical point of view.
Even at HRC, things went to a boiling point in the first couple of years between Pedrosa and Marquez, when the latter entered MotoGP class and immediately started outpacing his senior teammate. Eventually, Pedrosa made peace with Marc's capabilities and the relationship was much better before he retired.
I cannot recall any team orders given in the recent history to switch positions or sabotage a teammate's race, a-la F1. During 2022, Pecco Bagnaia was on his way to win his first championship but, his fellow Ducati counterparts, Enea Bastianini and Jorge Martin especially, were not making life easy for him. On this outset, Ducati made it abundantly clear that they will not issue team orders to any of its riders and everyone was free to race as they will, as long as it was within the MotoGP rules and regulations.
IMHO, MotoGP trumps F1 when it comes to fair play and maintain the sanctity of pure racing on the track.

[ds.raikkonen]

Originally Posted by AtheK

So how many DNF next season for Marc and Pecco by taking down each other!

Hopefully not, though this is similar to a Lorenzo-Rossi pairing. But both are mature riders.

That said, Marc wants to win the title and will push Pecco like no other rider and contact is inevitable, but something tells me there will be some gentlemen agreements between the two laid out by Gigi.

[Thalla]

Will we see anyone beating Jorge Martín this season in the riders championship? What do thing guys think?

[AtheK]

Originally Posted by Thalla

Will we see anyone beating Jorge Martín this season in the riders championship? What do thing guys think?

Pecco is catching up really fast and has up his game in last two races. I Won't be surprised if he is almost level with Jorge after 2-3 more races. It will be a tough battle again this year, but I somehow feel Pecco will pip him.

Also all this saga of Jorge not getting into factory Ducati team can work either way for his morale, interesting season shaping up.

[ds.raikkonen]

Originally Posted by AtheK

Pecco is catching up really fast and has up his game in last two races. I Won't be surprised if he is almost level with Jorge after 2-3 more races. It will be a tough battle again this year, but I somehow feel Pecco will pip him.

True, and Ducati will not be willing to extend Jorge all the upgrades seeing as he is a direct threat to Pecco's WC hopes.

It is like Tardozzi said to Bastianini after the Mugello borefest that it was Marc who 'woke him up' and then overtook both Marc and Martin in the closing stages. Shows how much the potential was in the GP24 which Enea was not utilizing and could have even won had he woken up earlier.

Pecco has shown that he needs these wake up calls as well, like Martin getting up to speed with him in 2023 at Sachsenring, passing and beating him at Le Mans in the closing stages etc. But once he wakes up, boy is he good! That double overtake at Jerez still gives me goosebumps!