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Fabio Quartararo’s recruitment drive towards Fabio Di Giannantonio for the new Pramac-Yamaha project has capped the latest twist in MotoGP’s craziest season in years, as the rider market continues to move ahead of the 2024 summer break.
MotoGP will enter a planned break – unlike the few breaks earlier this season that forced the cancellation of a round – at the conclusion of this week’s German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring, and many riders who are still unattached and planning are hoping to gain clarity on their futures either during that period or already before.
Di Giannantonio, who currently rides for the VR46 team and is the second best rider in the Ducati GP23 class this season behind Marc Marquez, is one of the names preparing to decide his future.
But he is also someone who seems increasingly moved by the prospect of a Yamaha contract, even though the current M1 is less competitive than even the year-old Desmosedici.
“I’m definitely in a different position compared to last year, and I’m very grateful for that,” said Di Giannantonio, who was due to leave MotoGP in 2023 before an incredible turnaround coupled with a VR46 finish to his pursuit of Firmin Aldeguer gave him a lifeline.
“I know what I want for next year: I’m still deciding what the best solution is for me, for my career, but what I want, what we’re looking for, is a project that I can be the boss of in one way or another.
“A decision will be made in the first instance on this matter.”
Di Giannantonio then admitted he had “plans A, B and C” but initially didn’t say what they were – before Quartararo let his tongue out in earnest later.
When asked who he would like to see at Pramac in 2025, Yamaha rider Quartararo – who was sitting to the left of Di Giannantonio – simply pointed to his right and said: “This guy, on my right.”
“Fabio is capable of doing a very good job with Yamaha,” he continued.
“He’s been doing a really great job over the last 10 months. I think we need a rider like him to really improve our project.”
Di Giannantonio – who laughed merrily at Quartararo’s answer – had previously stressed the importance of having a winning bike, something the M1 is highly unlikely to achieve until early 2025, but his thinking appears to have changed.
“It’s great to hear such words from a teammate, a competitor and a friend at the same time,” he said. “It’s no secret that we talk with Yamaha, but also with my team and Plan C, which I can’t say.”
“I was talking to Fabio last weekend, honestly, we talked about how the project is going.
“This weekend I’ll sort of figure out the route.”
Di Giannantonio’s current situation within Ducati suggests that in theory he should be in a strong position for both factory-spec machines and perhaps even a factory contract given the depletion of the rider ranks by 2025 – with Jorge Martin, Enea Bastianini and Marco Bezzecchi all certain to exit.
However, Ducati general manager Gigi Dall’Igna recently confirmed to Sky Italia that the company will be reducing the number of factory riders to three instead of four – so Di Giannantonio’s path to one is likely to be complicated. The same is likely to apply to the factory contract, given that Ducati has already awarded a contract not only to the duo of Becco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez but also to newcomer Fermin Aldeguerre.
What about the second seat in Pramac?
Quartararo’s offer for Di Giannantonio’s services was accompanied by the admission that “a rookie could be a good idea” for the other rider.
“[Sergio] Garcia [Alonso] “Lopez is a fast name in Moto2. She could earn her place in a team like Pramac, which will eventually not be a satellite team, but just an extension of the factory.”
Garcia (pictured above) leads the Moto2 standings as a second-year intermediate class rider, while Lopez has long been a subject of interest from Yamaha.
Other names of experienced
If Di Giannantonio is indeed Pramac and Yamaha’s top target – and if he agrees to join – it will cut short the likes of Jack Miller and Miguel Oliveira, who have been mooted as potential replacements for a team in need of experience.
“At the moment, my position is to wait,” said Oliveira, a Track House Aprilia rider, when asked about his plans for 2025.
“I can’t be proactive. I’ve spoken to different teams, and now teams also have to make their own decisions. That’s why we need to wait, we need to be patient.”
Oliveira is currently under contract with Aprilia, as is team-mate Raul Fernandez, but the Trackhouse line-up will switch to Trackhouse contracts in 2025.
While there seems to be a strong air of expectation that Fernandez will stay, as he himself has described it as a priority and has a big fan in the Aprilia camp in its boss Massimo Rivola, Oliveira’s situation remains less clear.
He admitted he would appreciate continuity, but also described the Pramac project as “very interesting” given the factory contract on offer – and he has his eye on “one or two available slots on a Ducati bike”.
He said the financial side of any deal was not a priority – but admitted he would like to feel truly wanted by any potential employer.
“Everyone would love that, of course! I think the choice will be for the team that is proactive in saying, ‘Listen, we really want to work with you.’ That makes every rider feel good and confident about what lies ahead,” Oliveira said.
Miller, who would logically fit in for one of Ducati’s vacant races (especially if Di Giannantonio is absent), seemed less convinced about his MotoGP future at the Sachsenring than he was a week ago in Assen.
When The Race asked him if he was waiting for the summer break to solve the problem, he said: “I’m not waiting from my side! No, there’s nothing at the moment. We’ll wait and see. Worst case scenario, we’ll go home.”
World motorcycle racing?
The Ducati MotoGP bike – arguably the best bike on the track and one that could become vacant if 39-year-old Alvaro Bautista decides to retire – is one that Miller has been repeatedly linked to, though he has never publicly floated it as an option.
Meanwhile, for fellow KTM outcast Augusto Fernandez, the WSBK championship appears to be the priority for 2025, admitting his options were “more in other arenas” rather than grand prix racing.
“I’m not in the best position to choose anything, but there are some things on the table,” he said when asked by The Race about his options.
“I am focusing on this weekend, it is important because after it we will have three weeks off. This decision will not be decisive. [overwrite] “The season we had wasn’t perfect. But certainly a good result here would help us.”
Mir/Honda awaiting announcement
Having already admitted he was close to signing a new deal with Honda, Joan Mir described a contract renewal as “very close” in the run-up to the Sachsenring.
That means the race for MotoGP factory team seats is effectively over for 2025, with Alex Rins certain to sign a new deal with Yamaha, while every other works team has both riders in place already.
Mir indicated that the signing of Aleix Espargaro was not necessarily linked to his personal decision, but he said: “I am very happy that Aleix is joining the team because he is a man with great experience, he did a very good job especially at Aprilia but also at Suzuki with less time. He is the type of person who is very clear with information, if he has to be aggressive in the box, he is capable of it.
“He is one of the players you want to have in your team. I am happy for him and for Honda, and we will see as well, we will have to wait for the news [on my end] “Out.”
With Luca Marini already on a 2025 deal on the other side of the garage and Johann Zarco locked in at LCR, the only question mark over Honda will be the other LCR car backed by Japanese sponsor Idemitsu.
Moto2 leader Ai Ogura is expected to be the favourite to succeed Takaaki Nakagami year after year, but it remains unclear whether that will actually happen.
Meanwhile, Nakagami is still unsure whether he wants to continue – having set a deadline to make a decision with Honda before the summer break, but admits that, when the Sachsenring round comes around, he is still unsure, even if he doesn’t really have a concrete “Plan B”.
External Options
Toprak Razgatlioglu’s relationship with a move to MotoGP in 2025 appears to have ended as abruptly as it began, with his manager Kenan Sofuoglu admitting to Speedweek.com that Razgatlioglu’s current deal with BMW Superbike for that year will be honoured.
Razgatlioglu’s proposal to exit the contract is believed to have not been well received by BMW Motorrad boss Markus Flasch.
At the Sachsenring, Rins will be replaced by Remi Gardner of the GRT Yamaha team, one of Razgatlioglu’s fellow MotoGP riders, who has decided to take to the track riding a Pramac bike.
2021 Moto2 champion Gardner, who had one season with Tech3 KTM before being replaced by Augusto Fernandez, said it “could be a bit interesting” after being repeatedly urged – despite repeatedly stressing that his full focus at the moment was on the MotoGP world championship and that there was no MotoGP offer on the table.
It is believed that he is unlikely to challenge for the MotoGP title, although that could always be changed by the emergence of a strong alternative.
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