In the middle of a season starring in the transfer market, the Italian manufacturer is likely to alter its line-up for the 2023 season, with Jack Miller expected to lose his place in the factory team.
Jorge Martin, and French Grand Prix winner Enea Bastianini, are the favorites to get the Australian’s seat, with the latter strengthening his claim after taking his third win of the season at Le Mans last weekend.
“I think any Ducati rider today will think twice about going elsewhere,” Ciabatti told Motorsport.com. “Not only because the bike is very competitive, I think the overall package, the kind of technical support that we provide to the whole independent team.
“It’s something I think the drivers and the teams appreciate a lot. On the other hand, I don’t think there are as many opportunities, or good opportunities, left on the market.
“Obviously we have to see what Honda will do. Apparently they don’t want to continue with Pol [Espargaro]. And then there is if Aprilia wants to change their riders, which I don’t think. If we look at the factory teams, unfortunately due to to Suzuki’s decision [after leaving the world], there is not much left, maybe KTM.
“But I don’t see the market as active and stressful, so the riders who can get very good results on a Ducati I’m pretty sure they will listen to a proposal from Ducati before they go elsewhere.”
Miller has been in talks with Honda about a return to LCR, while the three-time MotoGP race winner has also been linked to a move from KTM. Ciabatti, for his part, says that Ducati would like to continue with Miller in some way, but admits that any offer is probably not to his liking.
He also points out that Ducati is close to securing Martin and Bastianini for 2023 within its driver pool.
“We always said we wanted to secure both of them, and I think we’re basically there,” Ciabatti said. “Obviously we also wanted to see if we could continue in some way with Jack [Miller] because Jack is a great driver and we love him very much.”
“I think we can offer him something that he may not think is good enough for him and could go in a different direction. Fortunately we had more than two bikes on the grid and a very good relationship with our independent teams to see if we can find a solution.”
“But, as I said, we are at that stage where we need to assess the situation a bit and hopefully between Mugello and Assen come to a conclusive setup.”
