Ducati MotoGP boss Davide Tardozzi has confirmed a curtailing of the Italian manufacturer’s factory support for 2023, cutting the number of new bikes Ducati will be supplying to independent-class teams from three to two.
Speaking to MotoGP.com during the Aragon Grand Prix, Tardozzi confirmed a reduced allocation of works-spec Desmosedicis for next year, with only Pramac duo Jorge Martin and Johann Zarco set to get the same-spec bikes as factory riders Francesco Bagnaia and Enea Bastianini – a move that not only allows the factory to perhaps better focus its attention but also potentially solves a problem in terms of treating VR46 and Gresini riders equally.
There’s an argument to be made for Luca Marini, currently the fifth recipient of a 2022 bike this season outside the factory and Pramac teams, to once again get top-level equipment as he did this year – but with VR46 Ducati team-mate Marco Bezzecchi already a rookie podium finisher this year, he too has a strong case.
And, with Fabio Di Giannantonio improving at Gresini Racing and new for 2023 team-mate Alex Marquez also expected to start next year strongly, it means that there are many contenders but only a finite amount of resources – a problem that Ducati has solved by offending no one with favoured status.
“Both VR46 and Gresini will be on 2022 spec,” Tardozzi said, “and only Pramac will have exactly the same as our bikes, the factory bikes. It’s because we think it is better to let the other two satellite teams concentrate on what is a well-known bike with a lot of data and to let the young riders in some ways grow in a better way.”
That’s not a decision that’s likely to leave at least one of the aforementioned young riders too upset, either, with Marini admitting before the weekend’s action at Motorland Aragon kicked off that he’s not too worried about what specification of machine he receives, especially given Bastianini’s strong start to 2022 (with three race wins) aboard a well-developed 2021 machine he inherited from Bagnaia and the KTM-bound Jack Miller.
“I would like to have the top, of course, the full package,” he admitted. “But now the performance is close. I don’t know if there are many differences now, because no one has tried both of them to understand the potential. All the bikes have the potential to win races.”
Tardozzi also confirmed that the Pramac squad will have a new team boss in the shape of former grand prix racer and current Aspar team manager Gino Borsoi, with the Italian returning to the premier class as a permanent replacement for Francesco Guidotti, who in turn left Pramac to head KTM’s factory effort at the start of 2022.
“I think that [Pramac owner] Paolo Campinoti did a very nice choice, because Gino is a very talented and experienced team manager,” said Tardozzi, who has previous experience working with the Italian back when Aspar was a satellite Ducati MotoGP team.
“We are really, really, really happy to have Gino onboard.”
Borsoi brings a reputation as a talented people manager who will step into the space left by Guidotti, who enjoyed a similar reputation at the team before his departure for the Austrian brand.
Borsi also has experience working with one of Pramac’s riders as well, thanks to Martin’s time at Aspar in 2016, during which he took his first-ever grand prix podium in his second season in the Moto3 class.
