Enea Bastianini has been confirmed in the factory Ducati team alongside Francesco Bagnaia next season.
Lenovo Ducati team manager Davide Tardozzi announced the news on Friday at the Catalan round of the MotoGP World Championship in Barcelona.
“[Thursday], we confirmed officially that Enea will be with us next year too,” said Tardozzi.
“He deserves another year with the factory bike because of what he has done in the past.”
Bastianini, who was contracted for 2024, was always expected to retain his seat in the official squad after earning his place in the team with an impressive third-place finish in last year’s championship with the satellite Gresini Racing outfit.
However, the Italian’s eagerly anticipated debut campaign on the factory bike has been blighted by injury, with Bastianini suffering a broken shoulder blade in a crash at the first round of the championship at Portimao in Portugal.
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The 25-year-old only returned at the Italian round for his home Grand Prix in June and has gradually been finding his feet again after a significant spell on the sidelines.
On Friday, Bastianini was ninth quickest in Practice 1 at Catalunya, sealing automatic passage to Qualifying 2.
“In general, I’m quite happy about my day, I’m in Q2, which is important,” Bastianini said.
“This morning my pace was quite good, but this afternoon I struggled a bit more with the used tyre.
“I am competitive and my lap time was good, but the problems remain the same. I’m sure that with the new tyre in the time attack, we can do something better tomorrow because today I wasn’t perfect, I made some mistakes.
“Every session we are making a step forward, I understand the area to work on, so I am confident for tomorrow.”
Confirmation that Bastianini will remain in the official Bologna red colours next season comes after Marco Bezzecchi signed an extension with the VR46 Ducati team, giving up the chance to ride a 2024-spec Desmosedici at Pramac Racing.
Frenchman Johann Zarco’s decision to make the move to LCR Honda has left a vacant seat in the team alongside Jorge Martin.
With current LCR Honda rider Alex Rins joining Fabio Quartararo at Monster Energy Yamaha next year, the departing Franco Morbidelli could now land a sought-after Desmosedici GP24 at Pramac, which is the only satellite Ducati team contracted to run latest-spec factory bikes.
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