There's no hiding away from the fact that Ducati has an embarrassment of riches heading into 2024. The double World Champion in Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team), the man who pushed him all the way in Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing), and now the eight-time World Champion in Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing).
Managing those three big personalities as they no doubt vie for the title will be a big task for Ducati Corse General Manager Gigi Dall'Igna and his new right-hand man: Mauro Grassilli. Previously responsible for marketing and sponsorships, Grassilli replaces the experienced Paolo Ciabatti as Sporting Director for 2024. But the pair not only have the 2024 World Championship to organise, but also a huge year for the rider market with all but three riders on the MotoGP™ grid seeing their contracts expire.
It's a situation that Livio Suppo has lived through before, first with Ducati, then at Honda, and most recently at Suzuki. The multiple World Championship-winning team boss foresees a "big fight" for one sought-after seat once Ducati ties down their "main man" in amongst a busy 2024 schedule.
"All Ducati riders have their contract finishing this year, so I assume the market will start soon," started the Italian. "Their bike is the best, so all riders on a Ducati, at this moment, will want to stay on a Ducati. But KTM and Aprilia will continue their growth, and Yamaha and Honda having concessions should give them greater potential. Already we saw in Valencia that Honda has taken a step. If they use the concessions wisely, they could close the gap a lot by mid-season. Then, the market will be totally different.
"Jorge Martin has already said that next year he will be in the factory Ducati team, or he’ll be with another factory. He wants a factory bike. It means that if by mid-season, one of KTM, Aprilia, Honda, or Yamaha have shown they’ve closed the gap, then Jorge is on the market. Plus, who knows what will happen with Marc? He will be competitive, so, in theory, he’ll be of interest to the factory Ducati team. But then that means you lose one of the others, so it won’t be easy to manage.
"I’m sure first Ducati will try and sign Pecco [Bagnaia]. He’s a double World Champion, he’s Ducati’s main man, so they need to keep him. Therefore, I assume there will only be one place available in the factory team and there will be a big fight for that place. In the meantime, if Ducati’s rivals show they’ve closed the gap at the start of the season, then it will make it more difficult to keep all their riders and they will have less time to decide. I think they would like to wait until the summer, but maybe that won’t be possible.
"I don’t think Pecco will have a say in who his teammate is because, at least in my time, unless there’s a really bad relationship between two riders then there's no reason not to sign them. If there isn’t a character problem, a rider cannot complain about who the team signs just because he thinks they might be faster than them. Each factory must try and have the strongest team they can."
As a result, can Suppo envisage the #93 donning the famous red of Ducati in twelve months: "Why not? Marc strongly wanted a one-year deal and that’s what he got at Gresini. I think he wanted that one-year deal to first see if he’s still fast enough to fight for a Championship. Once he’s realised that, then he will have the freedom to see what Honda is doing, what KTM is doing, what Ducati is doing, and make his choice.
"But don’t rule out the possibility of Marc returning to Honda. Just look at the way the split happened: it was all done in a very friendly way. Not only on the PR side but also Marc and Honda tried to find the best solution for both. It’s a moment for Marc to find his strength again and, on the other side, it takes the pressure off Honda to now develop the bike without Marc on it, as Marc wants to win and I don’t think the bike will be ready to do that at the start of the season. In the end, all his team remained at Honda except one and we know how strong his relationship is with them. So, who knows?"