SlowLane

I am glad Martin is moving to Aprilia. It will be interesting to see what he can do on their bike. He has earned a big salary increase and factory ride.

Supposedly, Bastianini will leave Ducati for a spot on the Gas Gas KTM satellite team. I am assuming Ducati are trying to resolve MM93's sponsorship issues and finalize a contract with him for the factory team. Red Bull would probably be super happy if MM93 took the 2nd seat on the Gas Gas KTM team, or if KTM replace Binder with MM93 on the KTM factory team. Staying with Ducati, especially a spot on the factory team, makes more sense given his age. MM93 has a better chance winning another championship with Ducati in the near term. He mentioned a third option during this weekend's press conference, with most assuming that option is a ride with KTM.

F-C

The process of elimination basically has Marquez at Ducati even without an announcement. Will be bizarro if Martin wins the championship at the end of this year! But Ducati made the right decision.

F-C

https://www.motogp.com/en/news/2024/...il-2026/500849

​​​​​​​It's official now.

SlowLane

Definitely looking forward to next season. I like to see the grid shaken up a little.

I am not sure Ducati made the decision to choose MM93. Late last week, the press rumors were that Ducati would move Martin to the factory team. The press asked MM93 about moving to Pramac next season, because Pramac indicated they were staying with Ducati and would have the other two latest spec bikes. MM93 said Pramac wasn't one of his 3 options, as he saw no value in moving from one satellite team to another. I think his refusal to move to Pramac caught Ducati off guard.

Maybe Pramac will decide to switch to Yamaha now, with no option for Martin or MM93 next season.

F-C

Yup. Marquez forced the dominos to fall in his favor by forcing Ducati for choose him for the factory team. Ducati could have still chosen Martin, but then risk losing Marquez. So in the end, they still made the right decision.

SlowLane

Martin winning the championship might be a little embarrassing, but Ducati will be happy a Ducati wins. At this point, it looks like at least the top 3 will be Ducs.

Securing MM93 in the factory team is a big win in terms of marketing and promotion, besides the potential for championships. I like Martin but don't see many 89 hats in the stands.

Alex Rins continues to limp as a result of that nasty broken leg from last season. There is some early speculation that he could retire due to the injury. That could open up the 2nd Yamaha factory seat for a rider like Mir or Oliveira. Unless Davide Brivio is able to reunite with Mir at Trackhouse.

American Moto 2 rider Joe Roberts won this past weekend's shortened race.

Legend2TL

^ Not MototGP but in F1, Williams had FOUR driver's (Piquet, Mansell, Prost, Hill) leave the team after winning the WDC. According to Patrick Head, didn't bother him or co-founder Frank Williams.

F-C

Speculation that Mir might retire as well due to too many falls on the Honda.

Some more speculative & factual fallouts on the Ducati saga:

Winners:
Marc Marquez - Gets the top bike he wanted. Big payday. (Apparently, he isn't getting paid much this year on the third-string satellite team. Apart from his sponsors.)
Ducati - Big commercial win potential with more bikes sold.
MotoGP/Liberty Media - Much more fan interest anticipated next year.

Losers:
Bagnaia - Apparently, he really didn't want Marquez as his teammate. He's concerned that the team would gravitate around Marquez.
Martin - Off to a potentially slower bike.
Pramac - Could be moving to Yamaha.

SlowLane

Sunday's race was better than I expected. Too bad MM 93 had such a bad start to the weekend. The high side crash he suffered during the Practice session was brutal. He likely could have fought with Bagnaia for the win if he qualified better.

In addition to being on the inferior GP 23, MM 93 keeps having technical issues that hold him back. Unless those issues stop hindering him, the championship will continue to be Martin versus Bagnaia.

I feel bad for Martin . There were a lot of crashes over the weekend during practice, so I figured there would be more during the race.

SlowLane

The teams will be using classic liveries during this weekend's race. The following link has a pic of Yamaha's livery.

Alex Rins pulls out of the remainder of British MotoGP | MotoGP | Crash

F-C

Liked the retro liveries. Race was kind of uneventful though.

It was always going to be an uphill struggle for Gresini to challenge for the championship.

SlowLane

The sprint race was a little more interesting. Bagnaia and MM93 ended up crashing out.

Ducati made a significant step forward with the GP24. Not sure MM93 will win a race this season. A while back, he said that the GP24 was probably 0.2 seconds per lap faster than the GP23. Gresini and MM93 seem to struggle with finding the best setup on Fridays during Free Practice 1 and Practice.

F-C

I missed the sprint.

Legend2TL

Not sure it's been discussed here yet but Yamaha have started prior this year on a V4 MotoGP engine project in a effort to get competitive again.

https://www.crash.net/motogp/news/10...-theyre-hungry

SlowLane

Hopefully, Yamaha can be competitive again. Adding Pramac with Oliveira and Miller should benefit their development. The Ducati Cup is becoming tiresome.