Pramac re-signs with Ducati

Pramac Racing will be a Ducati satellite outfit for at least three more MotoGP seasons, the team has confirmed.

Pramac has become a key part of the Bologna marque’s MotoGP programme, including fielding the last three riders to have been recruited for the factory team.

Of those, Jack Miller has won the last two grands prix, fellow incumbent Francesco Bagnaia sits one point off the championship lead, and now KTM rider Danilo Petrucci picked up two victories in Ducati red.

Current Pramac rider Johann Zarco, like Bagnaia, has led the championship during the season to date and occupies third ahead of this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix.

Pramac CEO Paolo Campinoti said, “We are extremely proud of the work put in and the results we have achieved during these years together with Ducati.

“We are delighted to be continuing this beautiful adventure for the next three years.

“With Ducati, we have created a very special relationship, we have reached incredible objectives and, the best is yet to come.”

Ducati Corse sporting director Paolo Ciabatti added, “It is truly a great pleasure for us to be announcing the renovation of our partnership with Pramac Racing for the following three MotoGP seasons.

“Together with Pramac Racing, we have obtained very important achievements.

“Thanks to the close collaboration with them, we have been able to make young riders flourish, who then moved up with success to the official team.

“Furthermore, we are certain to have what it takes to be able to enjoy many other great achievements together with Pramac Racing.”

The agreement, which covers the period 2022 to 2024, will take the relationship between the two parties to a full 20 years.

Pramac is essentially the second team in the Ducati hierarchy, between the manufacturer’s own squad and Esponsorama Racing (‘Avintia’).

The latter was given increased factory support when Zarco was placed there for the 2020 MotoGP season, but will effectively be replaced on the MotoGP grid by Valentino Rossi’s Team VR46 when the new participation cycle begins in 2022.

VR46 is already part of the Esponsorama environment given it sponsors rookie Luca Marini’s bike while Rossi himself is contracted to Yamaha as a rider.

‘The Doctor’ has named each of Ducati and Yamaha as a fifty-fifty chance of supplying his MotoGP team next year, while Gresini Racing is also in the mix with the Bologna factory.

That does not mean, however, that VR46 and Gresini represent a zero-sum game, with Ciabatti and factory team manager Davide Tardozzi both stating recently that Ducati could supply as many as eight entries next year.

The question then would be which teams and riders receive the latest-specification Desmosedici model, and which are handed older bikes.

As it stands, both Zarco and Jorge Martin, the latter currently injured, ride GP21s out of Pramac while Marini and Esponsorama team-mate Enea Bastianini have GP19s.

Rookie Martin is on a two-year contract with Ducati while Pramac’s new deal is the latest piece of the manufacturer’s puzzle to fall into place following confirmation earlier this week that it has re-signed Miller for another season.