Stunning revelation that Ducati may put Jorge Martin in 2024 factory team
The Pramac Racing rider is 13 points behind championship leader Francesco Bagnaia in a tooth-and-nail scrap for the 2023 MotoGP title.
Martin is in red-hot form, winning both races at the weekend’s Thailand MotoGP.
And his blistering speed could earn him a promotion into Ducati’s top team, alongside Bagnaia, next season, AS report.
The Spanish newspaper claimed they “can guarantee from the paddock of the Chang International Circuit that the doors of the official Ducati box are opening again to Jorge Martin”.
Fonsi Nieto, Martin’s technician, told AS when asked if he expected a move to the factory team: “I could give you many answers. It makes me sad and it makes me happy.
“It makes me very sad on the one hand and I am 100 percent happy on the other, but if it is for that reason, because we are world champions, the team would be very happy to see that. And if he doesn't win, too.
“Right now Jorge is a rider who deserves any bike he wants from the paddock.
“Right now I think he is the rider that the factories want the most.”
Pramac boss Gino Borsoi, asked if he expects to lose Martin, replied: “I don't know what will happen, but if it happens it will be because he deserves it.”
A year ago, Martin was overlooked for a promotion to the factory team in favour of Enea Bastianini.
Bastianini, with Gresini in 2022, had won the second-most amount of races behind champion Bagnaia.
But Bastianini’s debut year as a factory rider has been savaged by injury, the first of which was suffered on the opening weekend.
Bastianini may have initially signed for two years but Ducati reportedly want to strengthen their factory team while Martin is showing the best form of his his career.
The MotoGP season has three rounds remaining, starting in Malaysia in two weeks.
Although Ducati’s 2024 MotoGP rider line-up appeared guaranteed - including the addition of Marc Marquez on a year-old machine for Gresini - it seems there may still be time for one major shake-up.
