The penultimate piece of the 2021 MotoGP rider puzzle has fallen into place.
As has long been reported, Luca Marini and Enea Bastianini will be riding for the Avintia Ducati team next year. The young Italian pairing will be riding updated Ducati GP19s, with strong support from Ducati.
It was an open secret that Bastianini would be moving up to MotoGP after the Italian Moto2 rider announced as much at Misano in September.
Marini’s move was also long-anticipated, as protracted negotiations continued over how the VR46 Racing structure would replace the funding lost by replacing Tito Rabat, who had a contract with Avintia for 2021.
Those details took a long time to sort out, but are finally settled.
The signing of Marini and Bastianini leaves one space unclaimed on the 2021 MotoGP grid.
The final seat in the factory Aprilia team is still being held open for Andrea Iannone, should the Italian be cleared of his doping offense by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, or CAS.
So while Aprilia waits for that verdict, they are running out of options for riders to replace him. Andrea Dovizioso is actively negotiating with Yamaha and Honda for a role as a test rider, with Honda currently the hot favorite there.
Cal Crutchlow is also believed to be looking at a test rider role, rather than racing for Aprilia. Aprilia has parted ways with Bradley Smith, who had been angling for the seat alongside Aleix Espargaro, and replaced him as test rider with Lorenzo Savadori.
All this means that Aprilia will have to wait until after mid-November to try to persuade someone to race for them, if Andrea Iannone’s suspension is not lifted. That could be very difficult.
Source: Esponsorama/Avintia, Ducati, & VR|46
Comments