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KTM has reportedly secured the services of current Enea Bastianini crew chief Alberto Giribuola for the 2023 MotoGP season.
Bastianini will be promoted from Gresini Racing to the factory Ducati Lenovo Team at the end of the year and would have been expected to take Giribuola with him.
However, according to Italy’s Corsedimoto, he will instead leave the Italian marque for the Austrian one.
It is thought that, rather than working as a crew chief at Red Bull KTM Factory Racing or GasGas Factory Racing, Giribuola will take up an overarching technical role with the manufacturer.
He is the fourth major signing from Ducati for the house of orange in less than two years, after Francesco Guidotti came from Pramac Racing to take up the Team Manager role instead at Red Bull KTM, and Fabiano Sterlacchini moved across to be Technical Director.
The most high-profile switch, however, will be that of former KTM Ajo rider Moto3 Jack Miller, whose seat Bastianini is taking at Ducati.
‘La Bestia’ has landed the seat at the red team off the back of three race wins on a 2021-model Desmosedici so far this year, and two podiums on a 2019 version in his rookie season last year at Esponsorama Racing.
For both, Giribuola has been Bastianini’s crew chief, but he was also Andrea Dovizioso’s at the factory Ducati team from 2016 to 2020, a period which included three years in which #04 finished second only to Marc Marquez in the championship.
He can therefore be regarded as a key signing for KTM, and a big loss for the Bologna marque.
There may be another, too, with Corsedimoto also reporting that Miller’s current crew chief, Cristhian Pupulin, is likely to follow him to KTM.
Pupulin has worked with ‘Jackass’ since his Pramac Racing days, staying with #43 given that squad essentially functions as an extension of the works Ducati team.
Miller joins incumbent Brad Binder at Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, while one of that team’s former riders is coming back to the family, with Pol Espargaro to switch to GasGas from Repsol Honda.
The other ride at GasGas, currently known as Tech3 KTM Factory Racing, is yet to be confirmed, although it is likely to be Moto2 title contender Augusto Fernandez.
Raul Fernandez (no relation) and current factory team rider Miguel Oliveira are going to Aprilia RNF, while Tech3’s Remy Gardner has been told he is out because he is “not professional enough”.
Meanwhile, on Fernandez’s entry, Guy Coulon replaces Nicolas Goyon as crew chief this weekend at Misano due to the latter’s recent knee surgery.
Practice for the San Marino Grand Prix starts this evening (AEST).
