MotoGP – Ducati told Jorge Lorenzo they won’t keep him

Bruno Gomes

May 3, 2018

Jorge Lorenzo almost officially out of the Ducati factory team

It’s been some busy days ahead of the MotoGP Spanish round to be held this weekend at the newly renamed Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto, and even though action on track only starts tomorrow, with Free Practice sessions for all three classes, off track, teams and riders are locked in tough negotiations.

According to some rumours, the Ducati Factory team already told Jorge Lorenzo that they’re not counting with him to race for them next season.

Carlo Pernat, Italian manager that usually is well informed about rider contracts, told in an interview for Paddock TV, that he believes that Ducati already scratched Lorenzo’s name from the list of riders they want for next season.

For Pernat, Lorenzo is making a risky move, asking a lot of money to the teams he’s negotiating with, and Ducati closed negotiations with the Spanish rider because they’re focused in retaining Andrea Dovizioso – upgrading his salary – and that the deal between Ducati and Dovizioso should be announced very soon.

That leaves Jorge Lorenzo without a Ducati seat and negotiating, as it seems, only with Ecstar Suzuki.

But again, former MotoGP champion is asking too much, and even though Davide Brivio, Suzuki team manager, believes that Lorenzo is a great match to the Suzuki GSX-RR prototype, Suzuki isn’t willing to pay Lorenzo what he wants.

So, with Jorge Lorenzo almost officially out of Ducati, who’s going to replace him?

Ducati has two riders in mind: The Australian Jack Miller and also the Italian Danilo Petrucci.

Both ride for the Pramac Ducati team, but Miller has been performing really well on Ducati machinery since joining the team this season, and although many tipped Petrucci to replace Lorenzo at the factory Ducati team, Miller seems to be ahead on Ducati options.

There’s also some talking about Ducati promoting Chaz Davies to MotoGP from the factory Aruba.it team that races in World Superbikes. But the fact that Davies isn’t a young rider and doesn’t have the knowledge of a MotoGP prototype like Jack Miller or Danilo Petrucci do, makes us think that this isn’t a real possibility.