How is Miller, and the rest of the Ducati riders, after the renewal of Bagnaia

It was an expected maneuver and one that the Ducati official team executives themselves had made clear, as Paolo Ciabatti advanced to Motorsport.com such a possibility, as well as being completely logical.

That is why the announcement of the renewal of Pecco Bagnaia by the house of Borgo Panigale for two more seasons until the end of 2024, this year he had already signed, has not caught his teammate, Jack Miller, by surprise, who in a demonstration of lordship has been among the first to congratulate him. “Congratulations mate, happy for you,” the Australian wrote on Pecco’s account on Instagram when the Italian announced the good news through that medium. “Thank you Jack”, was the response of #63.

Ducati has opted for Pecco, how could it be otherwise, he was the rider who finished the 2021 season the best, he is young (25 years old in January), he is Italian and seems to have the strength to fight for the championship.

From here, the factory with the most riders under contract in MotoGP history (five) will have to decide who will accompany Bagnaia in the official team in 2023, and how the rest of the pieces will fit: Jack himself, Jorge Martín , Johann Zarco and Enea Bastianini , who have a contract with the factory, without forgetting a Luca Marini who, despite not having any commitment with Ducati, races with a Desmosedici GP22, and in the pre-season tests he made it clear that he is not here to do tourism .

Turning 27 in January, Miller’s continuity with the factory team would see a stellar start to the season for the Australian, winning races and running for the championship. Any other situation would make it difficult to think of the continuity of a pilot that has not just exploded.

Right now, all the indicators point to the most valued option at Borgo Panigale being to promote Jorge Martín (24 years old in January) from the Pramac team to official. Last year, the Spaniard was the best rookie in the category, achieving one victory, four podiums and as many pole positions. Martín will complete his second year with Pramac on a factory bike and his contract ends at the end of the year. The man from Madrid is only contemplating, right now, moving to the official team and if not, he will look for options outside of Ducati (which you have).

However, Martín has found a serious competitor in Enea Bastianini. The Italian rider (24 years old in December) demonstrated his ability last year on the worst Ducati on the grid, achieving a double podium in the two Misano races. Although, on paper, the most natural path for the rider from Rimini would be to first pass through Pramac and have a full factoy motorcycle before making the leap to the official team, the rider has already made it clear with his statements that he wants to shorten the deadlines and He has publicly nominated himself to be Pecco’s partner in 2023. Enea’s desire has found the support of the Italian media, historically very influential in the decisions of the Bologna house, as happened when they clearly took sides with Danilo Petrucci to seat him on Jorge Lorenzo’s bike in 2018.

In any case, both Martín and Bastinini will have to endorse their options with results in the first races and that can also play in favor of the Italian, who will race this year with the consolidated GP21, while the 2022 bike is being, for the moment, a unknown and will need a few races to finish fine-tuning.

Johann Zarco, who will turn 32 in July, is right now the rider under contract with the factory who has the fewest options, not only to make the jump to the official team, but also to keep his current position at Pramac, a position that perhaps Ducati need for next year. Zarco is in his sixth year in MotoGP, third on a Desmosedici, and although last year he achieved four second places and finished fifth overall, victory continues to be elusive.

The one who did not enter the pools was Luca Marini, Valentino Rossi’s brother has a contract with the VR46 structure, which is the one who pays for the GP22 motorcycle with which he will race this year. On paper, Ducati has no control over the boy from Urbino (24 years old), but his performance in the past pre-season tests, in which he finished with the third fastest time and first Ducati, have not gone unnoticed. A brilliant start to the season could bring him into the equation, although, on paper, the ties between Marini and Mooney VR46 Racing Team go beyond mere sports.

The summary is that Martín and Bastianini, the ones who have the most, and Miller, a little less, are the ones with options to be official Ducati riders in 2023, and that they will be the first five or six races of the year, and their results, the ones that decide the location of each of them, without ruling out Jack’s return to Pramac, where he left very good memories and friends, and the fight for that position with Zarco.

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team