While the motorcycle racing world awaits the return of real racing, contract time is heaving into view. Though the methods are different – Skype calls and WhatsApp messages, rather than private conversations at the backs of garages or between trucks – the objective is the same: to find the best match of bike and rider, giving the most hope of success.
Having to work remotely is the least of both managers' and teams' problems. The bigger issue is that there is next to no data to go on. Teams and factories are having to make a guess at who they think will be strong in 2021 based on who was fast in 2019, and who showed promise in the winter tests. Riders have no idea which bikes have made progress over the winter, and which have stagnated. Is it worth taking a gamble on KTM? Has the Honda gotten any easier to ride?
For the Moto2 riders in with a chance at moving up to MotoGP, they have had just a single race in 2020 to show their worth. What's more, it was very far from an ordinary race: the last-minuted decision to make it a night race instead of a day race complicated tire choice, which some got right and some got wrong. Jorge Martin was widely regarded as the hot ticket for promotion to MotoGP in 2021, yet he had a miserable race at Qatar, finishing 20th. Tetsuta Nagashima won the race, while Joe Roberts dominated practice and qualifying. Nobody was mentioning their names as possible promotion candidates in late 2019.
Largely unknown unknowns
The race at Qatar doesn't seem to have done Martin's prospects any harm: he is still being widely courted by MotoGP teams for 2021, being strongly linked to the Pramac Ducati ride. Whether it affected the other candidates – Lorenzo Baldassarri, Luca Marini, Jorge Navarro, Xavi Vierge, Enea Bastianini, Augusto Fernandez, Remy Gardner – or throws up new names such as Roberts, Nagashima, or Aron Canet, remains to be seen.
But for riders to move up to MotoGP, first others have to make way for them. And that means riders moving, or retiring. At this moment, the rider market is waiting for two big decisions, though in both cases, the decisions are presumed to have been already taken.
Dove Dovi?
The first is Andrea Dovizioso, who is currently in conversations to extend his contract with the factory Ducati team. All involved appear to be assuming that the deal is as good as done, though flirtations remain. Sky Italia has reported that KTM has shown interest in Dovizioso, despite KTM boss Pit Beirer saying that he wants to keep his current line up of riders in both the factory and Tech3 teams.
The KTM hints could be little more than contract maneuvering. Dovizioso's manager Simone Battistella has made it clear that he believes that Ducati needs to recognize the contribution which Dovizioso has made to the program. This is indisputably correct: the Italian rider came to Ducati in 2013, and has spent the last seven seasons helping to turn the bike around, from a machine which struggled for top tens to a machine which was runner up in the championship for the past three seasons, and regularly wins races.
Dovizioso's problem is that his last contract was negotiated in the light of the 2017 and 2018 seasons, when it looked like he could finally break Márquez' domination of MotoGP. The 2021 contract is being negotiated on the back of the 2019 season, in which Márquez won comfortably. In 2017, Dovizioso had 6 victories. In 2018, 4 victories. In 2019, just 2. Though Dovizioso scored more points in 2019 than in either of the two previous seasons, and matched last year's total of 9 podiums.
Then there's the COVID-19 pandemic, and the economic crisis that trails in its wake. There is simply less money in the sport, and so riders who haven't already signed a contract face major cuts in salary. (And those who have signed a contract may also be asked to take a pay cut as well.)
Orange space?
There are hints that interest from KTM is not just a figment of Dovizioso's – or rather, Simone Battistella's – imagination. In an interview with Spanish radio, KTM factory rider Pol Espargaro hinted that he would be open to leaving the Austrian factory. There are only two bikes the younger Espargaro brother would be interested in, however: the Repsol Honda, and the factory Ducati seat, of which there is only one available now that Jack Miller has signed.
"During the winter tests I had a conversation with [team manager] Mike Leitner about options to sign with a satellite team," Espargaro told Spanish radio. "I told him that in the hypothetical case of changing teams, I would only do it for something much better." Yamaha is out of the question – Espargaro's history with Tech3, having signed a contract with the factory and only being given a satellite bike, have ruined that relationship – which leaves only factory Honda and factory Ducati.
So a straight swap between Pol Espargaro and Andrea Dovizioso is not completely unthinkable, though much would have to happen to make that possible. Were Espargaro to sign with Repsol Honda, then that would also open the way for Dovizioso at KTM.
Repsol wrapped up
The idea of Espargaro heading to Repsol Honda seems unlikely, however. The only seat available would be that of Alex Márquez, and ditching the younger Márquez brother after a single season so badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic would sit very badly with older brother Marc.
Marc Márquez wields unparalleled power in HRC, understandably given his proven track record of delivering titles year in, year out, whatever the state of the Honda RC213V. Despite having signed Marc Márquez to an unprecedented four-year contract, Honda are not going to risk losing the goose that has laid them golden eggs for six of the past seven seasons. Contracts inevitably contain escape clauses, especially when one of the parties is basically handed a clean slate to put in whatever they see fit.
So Andrea Dovizioso and Ducati look destined to remain together for at least another season. Dovizioso's development input remains crucial, and his consistency has been the one thing which has created a challenge for Márquez in the defense of his title.
Trying everything
Yet we should not underestimate the significance of the Jack Miller signing. Ducati have thrown the kitchen sink at trying to win a title, to repeat their victory of 2007. They signed Valentino Rossi, to no avail. They dropped former Ducati Corse boss Filippo Preziosi, and poached Gigi Dall'Igna from Aprilia, handing the man who has won titles in the 125, 250, and World Superbike classes a blank check and giving him a free hand to organize the racing department as he sees fit.
They signed Jorge Lorenzo for an astronomical sum – though only marginally more astronomical than the money paid to Valentino Rossi – and if Ducati CEO Claudio Domenicali's patience had held for just a couple more weeks, it might even have paid off. And throughout, they have stuck with Andrea Dovizioso, who has worked diligently and relentlessly to improve both the bike and himself.
So far, though, no titles. At least the bike is competitive, as the recent influx of silverware in Ducati's trophy cabinet so clearly demonstrates.
Fresh blood
So they must take another tack. If the old approach fails, then a new one must be tried, both literally and figuratively. Marc Márquez has beaten the old MotoGP guard every year but one he has been in the class. So factories are turning to youth to try outwit the reigning champion.
The older riders such as Andrea Dovizioso and Valentino Rossi were the benchmark which Márquez knew he had to beat when he entered the premier class. Now 27, he is the man the younger riders have been watching as they worked their way through the smaller classes. For them, Márquez was the benchmark.
That is one factor in Ducati's decision to sign Jack Miller. The Australian watched Márquez racing, and knows he is the man to beat. Miller has made major steps as a rider and as a human being in the past couple of seasons, learning some much needed maturity, which has paid off in results. Miller is Ducati's future, at least in the short term.
Ducati's youth strategy has been apparent for a while. They signed Pecco Bagnaia to a Pramac Ducati contract before the 2018 Moto2 season had even started. They tried to poach Maverick Viñales and Fabio Quartararo from Yamaha. And they are currently scouring the ranks of Moto2 in search of The Next Big Thing, showing a great deal of interest in Jorge Martin. Miller has been given a year to succeed in the factory Ducati team. But Ducati also have a pipeline of younger riders if he doesn't.
Vale Vale?
The other big question hanging over the paddock at the moment is the fate of Valentino Rossi. The Italian has a guarantee of full factory support with Yamaha for 2021, though there is no place for him in the factory team. It is taken as read that the Italian would switch to the Petronas Yamaha satellite squad, in a straight swap with Fabio Quartararo. But this is not quite as simple as it seems.
First of all, the enforced lack of racing has given Valentino Rossi a chance to reflect. And he has, perhaps to his own surprise, found that he has enjoyed life without racing, though the choice was not his. "I have to be sincere, I had a great lockdown," Rossi told BT Sport. He could spend time with his girlfriend, his family, his pets at home, and it was the first time in 25 years he wasn't spending the bulk of his time flying from racetrack to racetrack with the constant pressure to perform.
The life of a MotoGP racer sounds glamorous – indeed, it is glamorous – but it can become as much of a grind as any other profession. Riders travel to the same circuits, stay in the same hotels, shake the hands of the same VIPs year in, year out, all while trying to focus on trying to compete. What's more, they have to live with the bruises, scrapes, friction burns, and fractured bones that come with falling off a racing motorcycle.
This is not just the first time in 25 years that Rossi has spent several months at home, it is also probably the first time in 25 years he hasn't woken up to a litany of aches and pains. That must be a pleasant novelty.
The crew conundrum
The real complication of a Rossi move to Petronas is what happens to his crew. Johan Stigefelt, Razlan Razali, and Wilco Zeelenberg carefully put together the best team of mechanics and engineers they could find. The fact that there are more blue factory shirts in the satellite Petronas hospitality of an evening than in the official hospitality is indicative of just how good the atmosphere is.
If Valentino Rossi wants to bring his crew, most of whom he has been with either since his arrival in the premier class in 2000, or since his switch to Yamaha in 2004, then Petronas would risk losing one half of the garage. What's more, the entire transplanted Rossi crew – a closely-knit group, part of their success – would feel like an outside entity imposed on the Petronas team.
The fact that there have been no public pronouncements on this, other than to say that talks are ongoing on the subject, is telling of itself. Rossi has said that talks are going on through Yamaha, rather than with the Petronas team directly. That, again, is a sign that this is not all smooth sailing.
A decision sooner, rather than later
We will not have too much longer to wait for a decision from Rossi. Yamaha Managing Director Lin Jarvis told German-language website Speedweek that Yamaha and Rossi had a verbal agreement over the winter to decide on Rossi's future before the end of June. Despite the fact that there has so far not been any racing, Jarvis said he does not believe the timing of Rossi's decision will be substantially different.
Will Rossi decide to retire, or want to continue? I don't think even Valentino Rossi knows at this point. The COVID-19 pandemic has made the decision doubly difficult, both by robbing Rossi of the five or six races he wanted to base a decision on, as well as offering him a view of what retirement might be like. From the outside, it is impossible to judge which way his decision will fall.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider supporting MotoMatters.com. You can help by either taking out a subscription, supporting us on Patreon, by making a donation, or contributing via our GoFundMe page. You can find out more about subscribing to MotoMatters.com here.
Comments
Thank You David
For so much inaction, you bring us some action. Much appreciated. I got to ride on track a few times this month. It felt great. I hope you're all able to swap a mask for a helmet and go on your favorite ride.
Update
Update
Petrucci just announced his departure from Ducati MotoGP. He is going to knock at Aprilia before heading to WSBK options.
Warm wishes Petrux! You did great. Go get em on a Duc in WSBK. You will enjoy thriving there, it is a great paddock, the V4 is on the go, and we are in a good era.
(The dominos keep knocking, what then of Davies?)
In reply to Update by Motoshrink
davies out for 2021 ?
davies out for 2021 ?
redding was a fresh breathe off air in the squad,
lowes on the kawa,
toprak on yamaha,
teams want that too
I hate doing this
I have hats and t-shirts and more hats and more t-shirts. I have coats, flags, cups, plushies, stickers on my car and stickers on my birds car. Her sisiter and her husband have stickers on their cars, and they have hats and t-shirts and cups and mugs and flags and like us they've got on planes and flown all over the world to be yellow.
You can fight Pedrosa and Lorenzo and Stoner and you can try and fight the orange man.
I'm two years older than you and I'm asking you, can you fight this?
yamaha ..
yamaha made a clearly move ,
they cant afford it to lose rossi, because the petronas dont want to change the structure
they a very protective about it, i get that but i would have any time a 9 world champ in squad
they should embrace it , these the last 1 ore 2 years of 46
ducati owe dovi,
'Shrink
I do hope Petrux goes to Aprilia, I think he and Aleix would make a good team (while maintaining a friendly rivalry). Hopefully that move will provide Mr. Nice Guy Petrucci with the impetus he needs to be even more competitive, because I think he was too close to Dovi. And if Aprilia improved as much as Aleix felt...
Jorge Martin ?
Any official news regarding Jorge Martin & Pramac Ducati.
One source says it is happenning. https://www.visordown.com/news/racing/motogp/jorge-martin-ducati-motogp-2021
They quote Francesco Guidotti as saying, “If Ducati will be able to sign Martin, I think it would be a miracle".
I won't beleive it until I read it here on MotoMatters.
Jorge Martin could be the young gun Ducati corse are wanting.
In reply to Jorge Martin ? by Apical
Apical!
Apical!
Signed, as per Ducati. Official announcement is a-coming.
Are you excited about Miller? Sorry you lost your round. Are you yet pleased that bikes are back on track and a Euro 12 round season w/o spectators is emerging? Mid July. I am feeling pretty good. The races will be even more interesting given low prep and high excitement. If the first laps have no incidents it will be a miracle. Someone hanging in the front group will be a huge surprise (A.Espargaro or _____?). Then a 2nd round in four days, everyone well set up and rubber down? Totally different situation. It will be intense, and utterly unique.
Excited ? yeah kinda
G'Day Motoshrink somewhat excited re Jorge Martin & Jack Miller i.e. JM2
My level of excitement is not that great due to virus enduced ennui. But yes these are interesting developements for Ducati & MotoGp.
Australia lost our round of MotoGp this year. But we did have a round of a world championship at P.I. in 2020. I was able to ride 600kms each way across state borders etc and got there. So I am a lucky guy.
Yes very pleased that MotoAmerica is racing again! No news on the Australian championships as yet.
I will be pleased when the European MotoGp world championship gets underway I'm sure. Right now I'm feeling less than happy. Shrink what I'm feeling is grief or something like it. Kinda like a big loss.
These are unparralled times. Real life (and bread) is still much more important than racing or circuses.
Pleased to be exchanging ideas with you Sir Shrink.
Jack Miller yes I like the young racer. He is no Casey Stoner or Mick Doohan. More like our Wayne Gardner in my opinion.
The first sessions of MotoGp will be full of incidents, fun & games very likely after no real action for so long. Track days, dirt riding & video gaming are practice of a kind but not the real thing. Could lead to mistakes. Hopefully not carnage in the races.
We may see some big surprises. It will be intense. In a normal year we would have done six or seven races by now. Mugello would have been run and won. Missing Mugello so much after finally getting there in 2019.
Where to for Dovizioso in 2021, where to for Miller & Ducati in 2022 ?
In reply to Excited ? yeah kinda by Apical
With you on grief. And fear,
With you on grief. And fear, anger. But healthy and alive, planting a garden, working on bikes, etc. I love our motorbike racing enough to be feeling a bit better though...we get a 2020! And it will likely be rather cool in interesting ways.
Dovi is likely to get one more yr there, then off to somewhere else. Miller stays. Bagnaia goes somewhere else and does better unless at Honda. Most outstanding of the other Duc riders from 2021 takes Dovi's seat. Still two spots for a Moto2 kid and a rider from within the paddock that hasn't ridden the rocket yet. How did I do? And calling me sir is like putting electronics on an RC390.
:)
The Rossi problem
Seems Petronas are not wildly excited to join in the Rossi retirement tour, with all that that entales, the least of which is losing half their MotoGP team.
Why doesn't Rossi use the opportunity to set up his MotoGP team and run himeslf until retirement? Yamaha won't? Dorna would allow it.
In reply to The Rossi problem by snutty
Feasible
Right?!
They don't need his money. Did you know that in 2019 Petronas was the biggest budget in the whole F1 (Zzzzz) paddock?
We could use some yellow. VR46 could use a big bike spot he passes on to an academy kid and his crew/staff. Nastro Azzuro please!
Feasible.
In reply to Feasible by Motoshrink
Win Win
New, extremely well funded and run team kept happy.
Rossi, fans, money, team and influence kept in the fold too.
Only another bike for Yamaha to make, entering a higher number in the job sheets for the CNC machinists to make can't be that hard, surely? Hearing them talk about making the bikes hurts my head, it's like they're hand swiss filing the whole machine, yes it was once my job. Plain do not believe the excuses.
In reply to Win Win by snutty
Despite the great "customer
Despite the great "customer Herve" pain (que Zarco parts bin top Yamaha redemption) years, sincerely believe we have a renewed Blue project structurally. Reboot worked, an endothermic version of Gigification. Public hari kari apology to riders following Q a bit ago was the button push. We now have that Yamaha program we wished for, bike well out of the gutter and their organization without a notable structural shortcoming.
They can run 5 Factory bikes if they choose and see those Petronas/SIC plus Yellow euros.
Likely to leave the 2nd Petronas bike a lesser/day old bread spec of the current Yam now, and let the kid settle in on sorted kit then earn upgrades via performance.
But the VR46 seat? That WILL be top kit, if not best sorted of the 3-4 top kit bikes. Experimenting with the whole parts bin incl old chassis. Top notch garage staff.
Too good to pass up. Aqua pushes at DORNA and Yamaha? Then everyone but Aqua should regroup straightaway. With Nastro Azzuro and Bar Pizzaria Da Rossi, Polini...VR46 bows out like he bowed in.
Let's not forget - Honda only
Let's not forget - Honda only has The Marc signed after 2020. Their bike is not keeping riders on it (take that two ways). Crutchlow is on a shoe string as riding vs retiring. Nakagami isn't secure despite his passport origin.
With Yamaha and Suzuki rosters more full, the musical chairs are Duc, Aprilia and KTM.
KTM has a bit if a rider talent excess relative to their bike performance. Duc perhaps seen as the opposite. Aprilia look to have Iannone's spot in play, and he is quite vulnerable despite his mercurial skill.
Pol Espargaro to Honda? Dovisioso to KTM or Aprilia? Bagnaia to any of the three (no smoke signals out there to read)? Will Morbidelli stay Blue? He stays in the paddock, and can also end up anywhere. I think it is Yamaha.
I think Petrucci and Iannone are off to WSBK, but Petrux could grab the Aprilia seat for 2021. A reliable, easy, popular rider like him would be a nice combo with Aleix there, and refreshing relative to 2019. That bike, it is our big question mark now - potential big step!
KTM could lose not just Pol, but another of theirs. There is a pull. Both to Honda, and Ducati.
Zarco. Do not forget this guy. I have him about to blossom, and challenge for a Factory seat at Ducati.
Please Vale, rather than an arranged child bride in Aqua, a VR46 Yellow Yamaha garage. Little stands in the way. Offer it. Future you, your personnel, the Italian kid that takes your seat, all the fans...those sponsors, will all thank current you. Nastro Azzurro please and thank you.
In reply to Let's not forget - Honda only by Motoshrink
Disagree re Petrux
Obviously MotoGP bikes are now being designed around smaller people. Sadly for him and us, I love him, Petrux - heart on sleeve or what? Packaging, the inexorable and unstoppable rise of the engineers (computers) ends here. However the Last Train to Trancendental was a long time ago, said the JAMMS.
The poisoned chalice RCV has driven away MMs only challenger in recent times, back to mummy. It feels a bit like Doohan-era but worse. Lets see what happens. The young uns? Until they can make tyres last until the end they don't matter, 1/4pint does look goood tho. Suzuki guys are sadly on Suzukis, so are just prey to a 93. Dovi? Schon fertig. For him. Vinales, who knows? He doesn't.
In reply to Disagree re Petrux by snutty
Snutty, you are always spot on
Just rewatched Doohan era races, was thinking the exact same as you, and popped back here to visit.
I had a notion one doesn't dare say publicly. The Doohan era, like now with Marc and no one in 2nd, it ended with a second big injury.
And there was the early on Mick huge leg break come back (bloody miracle, that). Mirrors Marc's head/eye injury.
Don't forget Marquez had that enormous fast wreck leaving just a scraped swollen chin. Look, that was stolen from hell. You don't get many of them, no matter who you are and how skittley you may be.
Marc is racing against Marc. And injury. Tea leaves paint a big wreck. He pushes when he is met on track. He is crashing on Friday. He is crashing and saving all the damn time.
Remember Marc's biggest crash obliterating his bike last year? It was in Qual. Hooked into Quarty. Blasting past the limit.
Do not be fooled into thinking MM93 is above the laws of physics and statistics. Nor that he does not make crass errors under pressure.
The Honda, with ALL that motor, sending him careening into braking zones. Where it hangs his genits out waggling vulnerably. Losing the front and rear repeatedly. Several degrees of lean angle further than anyone ever on that bike. Or even the other bikes designed to carve there. Saving it on the shoulder?
I am concerned for the kid. A fast corner top speed incident touching another bike or avoiding one carving across his line. 5 yrs of Doohan ended with injury, with a less perilous context of circumstance. They share a lot of similarity.
:(