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As extra particulars trickled out in regards to the dramatic Italian Grand Prix weekend over which Ducati seemingly swung away from Jorge Martin to Marc Marquez for its 2025 manufacturing unit journey emptiness, it emerged that there had at one level been a wild plan for the pair to go face to face on monitor for the seat.
And that plan was very clearly doomed to failure.
The concept has not been formally confirmed by Ducati (and it’s by no means prone to be), but it surely’s been reported by a number of media shops and confirmed by The Race’s sources within the paddock.
It appears a easy proposal was put to each Marquez and Martin originally of Mugello weekend: whichever of them completed greater within the 2024 championship would get the 2025 works seat alongside Pecco Bagnaia rather than Enea Bastianini, and the opposite would get factory-spec equipment at Pramac (on the identical deal Martin presently has).
Perhaps it shouldn’t be a shock that Ducati thought-about such a daring resolution to its dilemma.
Both Martin, who fought for the title till the ultimate spherical of final 12 months and presently leads the factors, and Marquez, who has been performing persistently higher than each different rider on a year-old Ducati, would’ve deserved the 2025 manufacturing unit journey. And it will’ve helped its efforts to maintain Pramac on board if it might’ve firmly promised its satellite tv for pc staff would get both Marquez or Martin.
It’s not the primary time Ducati has advised such a situation to settle who received an inside promotion, although the final time was relatively decrease profile.
Within the second half of 2016, it informed Pramac team-mates Danilo Petrucci and Scott Redding that whoever gained their private on-track struggle would get the only manufacturing unit bike being given to Pramac for the next season.
The plan wasn’t precisely a hit again then both, breeding a good quantity of resentment between the team-mates as they went face to face on monitor in a collection of aggressive strikes that have been as predictable as they have been unwelcome to each Pramac and Ducati. Petrucci got here out on high by one level.
That, in fact, is one motive why a half-season-long duel between Marquez and Martin might have spelled bother as soon as once more. Neither is precisely reserved relating to scrapping on monitor.
It might very properly have led to extra of the form of fireworks we’ve already seen this 12 months between Marquez and Bagnaia at Portimao, when the pair collided and each fell – a situation that’s at greatest a distraction when the principle focus is on making an attempt to win total titles.
It appears ultimately what nixed the Marquez/Martin scheme was really the non-public sponsorship contracts that have to be signed properly prematurely of the top of the season in November.
Take Marquez’s checklist of longest-serving companions, for instance. Insurance coverage big Allianz conflicts instantly with Pramac’s title sponsor Prima. The manufacturing unit Ducati riders put on Carrera sun shades, however he has been an Oakley ambassador for a decade. Ducati’s title sponsor is Lenovo, however Marquez has a deal instantly with Samsung to advertise its expertise.
Then the most important sponsorship issue of all: Marquez’s long-term shut relationship with power drink Crimson Bull versus Ducati’s take care of Crimson Bull’s large rival Monster.
None of these clashes precluded Marquez’s swap to manufacturing unit colors, in fact, as was confirmed by his choice to play his playing cards, reject Ducati’s showdown proposal and provides it an ultimatum to simply signal him for the manufacturing unit seat or lose him, which it duly did just a few days later.
In actual fact, evidently no less than a few of these sponsors will now go away the eight-time world champion on account of his new deal, though it’s believed by The Race’s sources that the most important names concerned are nonetheless in negotiation with each Marquez and Ducati to see if dropping him or gaining the manufacturing unit staff is probably the most acceptable route forwards.
And people huge choices by multi-billion-euro corporations want much more time than would have been accessible had they been ready till the ultimate spherical of the 2024 season in November to know which bike their rider was going to get, as their advertising budgets for the 12 months forward are set properly prematurely of that.
It’s simply one of many many explanation why Ducati’s on-track shootout thought was so clearly doomed earlier than it even occurred.
