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Jorge Martín wants to wear red, but Ducati still has doubts

2022-08-22T14:31:39.228Z


The Italians finalize the decision on their second official driver for 2023, a move that they have been delaying due to the good performance of Enea Bastianini and they intend to resolve before the next San Marino GP


Two drivers are bidding to wear red next season, and the Austrian GP was their last chance to show all their talent both in the pits and on the track.

Ducati's staff, the most coveted bike on the grid for performance, has spent the whole year plucking the daisy with Jorge Martín from Madrid and Enea Bastianini from Rimini, two of the talents with the greatest projection on the current MotoGP grid.

Both world champions – the Spanish in Moto3 in 2018 and the Italian in Moto2 in 2020 – and winners in the premier class, their birthdays separated by less than a month at the age of 24, have complicated the final decision of the Borgo Panigale brand , which has been lengthening the deadlines and plans to communicate its resolution before the next San Marino GP.

Given their nearly parallel trajectories and similar track records, the question goes beyond the obvious performance on the track, which this weekend at Spielberg left a certain air of a technical draw.

Bastianini, who took his first MotoGP pole position, went toe-to-toe with a thriving Martín during the race, although a technical problem after going off the track left the Italian offside on lap six.

The race smiled on the Madrid native, who had intense duels with several of his teammates and even provoked a concerned reaction from the head of the Ducati squad, Gigi Dall'Igna.

Ambition played a trick on the main contender for the second factory mount when he wanted, precisely, to unseat the rider he intends to replace from the podium.

Jack Miller, who got out of the middle of the decision announcing his signing by KTM last June, denounced after the race in the Ring the aggressiveness of his brand partner.

"I don't know if he wanted to overtake me or run me off the track," complained the Australian.

In Silverstone, the previous appointment of the calendar, a similar movement already made the bosses of the brand raise their eyebrows.

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The final announcement, in principle, will come just before the next World Cup meeting in Misano, scheduled between September 2 and 4.

When the season started, the favorite to occupy the second Desmosedici was Martín, but the incredible start of the season by Bestia, as Bastianini is known in the paddock, changed the plans of the Italians.

A victory in the inaugural race in Qatar and another in the fourth round, the Grand Prix of the Americas, made the fashion manufacturer rethink its strategy.

“Obviously his performance has complicated our decision.

It is a problem that anyone would like to have”, said Paolo Ciabbatti, sports director of the Italian factory, after the victory of the Gresini driver in Austin.

Three races later, in France, he climbed to the top of the podium for the third time in his life.

"Last year,

The man from Madrid has been thinking in red since his debut in the premier class last year.

His great role with Pramac, the second structure of the Italians, earned him the title of rookie of the year after opening his locker of victories in the Styrian GP, ​​played at the same Red Bull Ring that last Sunday did not give him as many joys.

After finishing ninth in the championship and taking a total of four podium finishes in 2021, his bid was the strongest to make a decisive step in the career of any driver.

"Surely not wearing red next year would disappoint me a bit," he explained at Silverstone, the first of his two finals for the position.

"I think it's a step that touches me and that I have to do, but if it doesn't happen, we'll have to do our best with the same material."

This year, Martín has struggled with adaptation problems to a more advanced version of the Ducati and has also had to undergo surgery to overcome some discomfort in his hand.

Given these setbacks, Ciabatti already commented that they had wanted to give him more time.

Despite the margin granted, in 2022 the data does not support the candidacy of the Madrilenian: two second places and two pole positions place him ninth in the table (87 points), while his opponent is sixth (118 points) after rising three times to top of the podium and get a pole, this weekend.

Ducati has long since signed the two riders without determining who would go to the official structure in the contract.

Both know that they will have an identical bike, but the pressure and relevance of racing for one or the other structure is significant.

Bastianini, shy at the beginning of the year, recalled that moving up to the first team entails more responsibility and commitments off the track.

After Austria, and despite his abandonment, he did want to send a clear but diplomatic message: “When we've fought together I've always won, and that's why I think I deserve it.

Perhaps there are other aspects that can tip the balance in favor of Jorge, and I don't want to take away his merits because he is a great driver”.

The man from Rimini, one of the few Italians of his generation who has not passed through the Valentino Rossi academy,

“In the end, what is valued is the work of a whole year in the box, which is not seen from the outside”, Martín said a few weeks ago, somewhat exhausted about the media attention that the imminent decision has brought.

The man from Madrid has seemed at times annoyed at the battle that has been imposed within his factory, especially when he already saw himself in the seat at the beginning of the year.

Now, after everything that has happened, the die is cast, and there are only the behind-the-scenes meetings prior to the San Marino GP to decide who will wear the official Italian red from next year.

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Source: elparis

All sports articles on 2022-08-22

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