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Now it’s official that three-time MotoGP race winner Enea Bastianini – and not his rival for the seat, Jorge Martin – will become the second factory Ducati rider in 2023 alongside Pecco Bagnaia, Martin’s hopes of having factory status will have to wait.
But with an unexpected rejection from the manufacturer for next season at least, what impact is the news likely to have on his long-term career prospects?
Firstly, it’s important to note that while Martin hasn’t got the seat that he wanted, it doesn’t mean that Ducati has kicked him out for 2023. Instead, as promised, it has made sure he remains where is right now at satellite team Pramac alongside Johann Zarco.
Ducati was insistent from the start of the shootout process to secure the factory seat that both riders would eventually be offered the exact same specification of machinery and financial-compensation package regardless of the outcome, which means that Martin will benefit from a strong start to next year on a competitive bike with a team he already knows.
Yet there’s one area where we’re not yet sure if parity has been achieved – and that could be at either Martin’s or Ducati’s insistence. From what we know so far, it seems that Bastianini has been given a two-year deal for the factory team – something quite unusual for a manufacturer that has recently preferred to secure riders on one-year contracts with options to retain their services for the following season.
If Martin has been signed up on that more traditional Ducati deal, then it presents an opportunity for him, by leaving the door open for a switch to another factory at the end of next year – a realistic option given that a few seats, most notably Franco Morbidelli’s Yamaha, will be available.
Whether he decides to walk away from Ducati, a manufacturer he hand-picked to join despite considerable pressure from KTM to remain a part of its talent programme, remains to be seen. Martin has made no secret about the fact that it was the match of the Desmosedici to his own talents that took him there, something backed up by a pole position and podium finish to kick off his rookie season, and a win later in that 2021 campaign.
But the route to factory status there is now closed off until at least 2025, so is that too long to wait for the Spaniard? And, perhaps just as pertinently, has Ducati made a mistake by leaving him hanging for so long?
When compared to Bastianini, it’s fair to say that most observers within the MotoGP paddock would agree that the talent ceiling with Martin is higher. That’s taking nothing away from Bastianini, who has won three superb races in 2022, but he had never really been acknowledged as one of MotoGP’s rising stars until he burst onto the scene in 2020 as an unexpected Moto2 champion.
But with blistering one-lap speed and tons of success from his early days as Moto3 champion, Martin has been on a carefully managed path determined to bring him to MotoGP factory rider status given he has what has always been accepted as a mountain of talent.
That talent has shone through in MotoGP so far thanks to an impressive rookie season – but he’s also been badly affected by injury, mainly from a horrendous crash at the Portuguese Grand Prix early last year, with complications from it even impacting some recent races in 2022, with surgery required over the summer break to release trapped nerves.
Beyond that, it’s also clear that there are still some rough edges to polish off, something evidenced last weekend by a do-or-die overtaking attempt at the Red Bull Ring on fellow Ducati rider Jack Miller that resulted in Martin crashing out of podium contention in the final laps of the race.
No-one is doubting that he will continue to refine his riding and mature into a more complete racer, though; the old adage about how it’s easier to make a fast rider stop crashing than to make a slow rider fast comes to mind. He’s got 18 months now to do that without the pressure of a factory ride, and it’s hard to imagine that he won’t be able to pull it off.
Which then in turn brings us back to an earlier question: if he turns into an established race winner at Pramac in 2023, a result of giving him the time he needs to mature, has Ducati unwittingly opened the door for someone who was previously established as its hottest prospect to switch to a rival manufacturer?
Or will Martin choose loyalty over opportunity and remain with the factory even when other options are put on the table, knowing that two years down the line there may well be a spot at the main table for him should either Bastianini or Bagnaia fail to deliver the goods? Only time will tell.
