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Teaming up with a Japanese brand isn't unknown territory for Pramac Racing. Pramac team owner, Paolo Campinoti, had a hand in two MotoGP victories 20 years ago. "We won two MotoGP races with Makoto Tamada on a Honda in 2004, in Rio and Motegi," Campinoti recalls. Back then, we had a joint venture with MotoGP Honda' team owner, Sito Pons. Only in 2005 did Campinoti managed gain a spot in the MotoGP and started his long-term relationship with Ducati Corse by becoming the first satellite team of the Borgo Panigale brand to enter the premier class in 2003 with Loris Capirossi and Troy Bayliss.
Campinoti smiles as he remembers his first MotoGP year with Ducati: "It was 2005 and Ducati's third season in the MotoGP World Championship. We only had one team position and a joint venture with team owner Luis d'Antin. Our rider was Roberto Rolfo. We also had to accept racing with Dunlop tires," the Italian team owner recalled. "So we had all the ingredients we needed to fail ..."
Now, after 20 years with Ducati, Pramac has the chance to collaborate again with Japanese motorcycle brand. Thanks to the "concessions", the Yamaha factory team recently achieved several respectable victories in spring of 2024, thanks to Alex Rins and Fabio Quartararo, even if bad luck prevented reaching the grand result several times.
But Paolo Campinoti demonstrated how disappointed he was with Ducati at the Mugello GP. Since Ducati decided to promote Marc Márquez to the Lenovo team, his top rider, Jorge Martin (MotoGP runner up in 2023, world championship leader 2024) stuck to his word and finally signed for a factory team: Aprilia Racing.
So the team owner had to accept losing Jorge Martin and Marc Márquez, who was supposed to step in at Pramac in the event Martin signed with Lenovo, which who would've unburdened the Pramac budget considerably, at a time in which they were having financial problems with their sponsors. Now, Pramac Racing will have a new line up with Fabio Di Giannantonio (if VR46 doesn't exercise its option by end of July) or Franco Morbidelli and Fermin Aldeguer if Campinoti stays with Ducati.
Pramac wasn't able to attract the intrepid Enea Bastianini - four-time MotoGP winner in 2022 on the Gresini Ducati - who would rather ride for the 2025 KTM Factory Tech3 team than for Pramac. The Beast and his manager, Carlo Pernat, experienced two and a half years of sometimes quite rocky times with Ducati management. We remember some merciless fights against Bagnaia, like 2022 in Sepang, which Dall'Igna & Co. didn't weren't happy about.
Opponents, such as Aprilia and KTM, have been annoyed for three years now, because Ducati supplies three client teams and is, therefore, constantly expanding its suprema,cy, celebrating 16 victories in 20 races during 2023 and filling the first three spots in the riders championship with Bagnaia, Martin, and Bezzecchi. At the moment Ducati riders hold the first four places in the riders standings. The Desmosedici bikes are going to conquer the 5th constructor's title in a row in the 2024 season.
Ducati could, however, lose one of its three satellite teams. Aprilia and KTM opposed the number of Ducati teams on the grid during 2023. Aprilia Racing's CEO, Massimo Rivola, claimed there should be a maximum of two private teams like in the Formula One, unless all the other teams agree to a higher number. The Ducati rivals even talked about "negative concessions", like no test team or no wild cards for test rider Michele Pirro, since they already have eight bikes on the grid. But they're operating in a free market and, when Honda dominated for years and supplied up to five client teams, nobody complained.
Dorna's CEO, Carmelo Ezpeleta, has mentioned his ideal scenario for years: every MotoGP factory team should supply a client team. But, logically, no team wanted Aprilia's material three years ago and, recently, the interest client teams have for Honda and Yamaha has been limited. If Pramac Racing were to switch to Yamaha, Dorna would be one step closer to its dream scenario.
Ducati Corse signed on and paid the Pramac Racing riders for several years, therefore, also deciding on their future. Since November 2023, last years’s Moto2 top rider, Fermin Aldeguer, was scheduled to stay with Pramac for the next two years. A switch to Yamaha means this option is no longer available to Pramac. The two-year deal with an option for 2027 invovles to Ducati.
Yamaha let go of Franco Morbidelli at the end of 2023 after four disappointing years. Morbidelli, the 2017 Moto2 World Champion, surprised everyone in the 2020 season with three GP victories with Petronas-Yamaha and a fantastic second place in the World Championship. It's obvious that Yamaha doesn't want him back, but Morbido could find a place in the Pertamina Enduro VR46 Ducati team for 2025 ... or stay with Pramac.
