Метка: Mugello Official Testing

Vinales makes Tech3 KTM MotoGP switch alongside Bastianini for 2025

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As revealed by Motorsport.com on Wednesday, the Spaniard will end his three-year stint with Aprilia, which has yielded one grand prix victory in Austin this year and a total of seven podium finishes.

He will join the structure currently managed by Tech3 and KTM’s parent company Pierer Mobility Group, which currently competes under the GasGas banner, but will be rebranded under the KTM marque.

As announced previously, Brad Binder and Pedro Acosta will race in the factory team, while KTM will supply four factory bikes between its two teams.

«We’re very happy we could bring both Enea and Maverick into our MotoGP project and give them full factory backing and support to keep following their goals and to reach their maximum performance,» Pit Beirer, KTM motorsports director, said.

«It’s clear we are talking about two of the fastest riders in the world right now and it is a compliment that they trust us and the first-class operation we’ve created together with Red Bull KTM Tech3.

«The team’s label for 2025 says it all: it is time to strengthen the KTM name again and we couldn’t think of a better way to bring this kind of value to the company than for Enea and Maverick to go full Red Bull orange.»

Maverick Viñales, Red Bull KTM Tech3, Pit Beirer, KTM

Maverick Viñales, Red Bull KTM Tech3, Pit Beirer, KTM

Photo by: KTM Images

With Vinales heading to KTM, it means Aprilia will lose both its current factory riders, with Aleix Espargaro having already announced his MotoGP retirement at the end of the year.

Motorsport.com understands he will move to Honda in a test rider role next year.

Initially, Vinales’ intention was to explore the possibility of extending his contract with Aprilia, which handed him a reprieve in 2021 following his acrimonious split from Yamaha. However, the Noale-based brand preferred to wait for Espargaro to decide his future, before sitting down with Vinales to negotiate a contract.

But the MotoGP rider market was shaken up after the Italian Grand Prix when Aprilia announced it had signed Jorge Martin from Pramac, after Ducati picked Marquez as Francesco Bagnaia’s team-mate for 2025-26.
It remains to be seen who will now occupy the second factory Aprilia spot next year alongside Martin, although current VR46 riders Marco Bezzecchi and Fabio Di Giannantonio are seen as the most likely candidates.



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MotoGP race win on last year’s Ducati GP23 will “come soon”, say factory riders

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The Italian marque has made a massive jump with its already dominant Desmosedici in 2024, with Bagnaia and Pramac’s Jorge Martin winning six of the first seven grands prix between them on the new GP24.
Although the GP23 remains a competitive bike to race on, with Gresini’s Marc Marquez finishing half a second behind race winner Bagnaia in both Barcelona and Le Mans, last weekend’s Italian GP showed the gulf in performance between the two bikes as Bagnaia, Bastianini and Martin locked out the podium spots on their respective 2024-spec Ducatis.

While that gave the impression that the GP24 is near-unbeatable in 2024, both Bagnaia and Bastianini are convinced that it is still possible to win on last year’s bike.

Bagnaia explained that the learning curve on the GP23 is quite steep in the early part of the season, and the GP24 contenders are performing at their very best, but it would still be possible for Gresini and VR46 riders to chalk up a win this season in the right circumstances.

“The fact is that we are adapting well,” said the reigning champion. “Last year’s bike needed more time to adapt but was a very good bike. On some tracks it was very competitive, in other tracks it was less competitive. 

“Here [in Mugello] the ‘23 [bike] was fantastic, also in Barcelona. So it’s difficult to know why [it wasn’t so fast this time]. 

“In the test in Jerez they had a new exhaust with the ’23 that helped a lot with the problems they were facing last year, and more or less right now are very similar [to GP24]. 

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Photo by: MotoGP

“I think the win from a ’23 bike will come soon. But right now the level is very high, with the new tyres it’s very high again and we are doing a very special job [on GP24s]. 

“We are not just here, we are not three slow riders, just we are doing a very excellent job.”

Bastianini, who particularly struggled on the GP23 last year during an injury-ridden campaign with Ducati, says the difference between the specification of the two bikes is not as big as some believe — and backed Marquez for winning a race this season.

“I agree with Pecco. I remember last year it was important to bring some time, to do some modification on the bike was different compared to ’21 [bike I rode with Gresini in 2022],” he said. 

“But the ’23 bike for me compared to ’24 is so similar and well, for me this did not change a lot. 

“Like you say, Pecco, probably the ’23 bike can win in the future. But the problem is the level [of GP24 riders]. We are really close and Marc for the moment is much faster with the ’23 bike. 

“But for the difference, for me, it’s not really a big one.” 

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Martin, the current championship leader, feels there are some areas where last year’s Ducati was actually superior to the GP24.

“For me, the big change on the ’24 is the braking, it’s what I felt. That’s why we finally chose the ’24,” he said.

“But I thought here the ’23 will have been more competitive [in Mugello] because last year, in the changes of direction, I was stronger than this season. 

“So this year I struggled quite a lot more with the ’24 than last year with the ’23. 

“Now it’s difficult to say but they are so similar.”

2023 winners on GP22

A number of Ducati riders won races on the then-year-old GP22 in 2023, suggesting the gap between the performance of the two Desmosedicis wasn’t as big last season. 

Both VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi and Gresini’s Fabio di Giannantonio won grands prix, with the former even challenging for the title before settling for third in the standings. Alex Marquez on the second Gresini bike also took two sprint wins riding the GP22 after switching from Honda to Ducati machinery.

Rider

Team

Race wins

Marco Bezzecchi

VR46

3 (Argentina, France, India)

Fabio di Giannantonio

Gresini

1 (Qatar)

Alex Marquez

Gresini

2 sprints (Britain, Malaysia)



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Marquez «gave up» and accepted podium defeat in MotoGP Italian GP

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Having finally cleared the factory Ducati of Enea Bastianini on lap 18 of 23 after hounding him for much of the day, Marquez was chasing after Pramac’s Jorge Martin for second as the Mugello race neared its conclusion.

But with two laps to the finish, Bastianini was able to retaliate and retake third position on the entry to Scarperia, dropping Marquez back down to fourth and outside the podium spots.

While Bastianini went on to overtake Martin with a brilliant pass at the final corner, Marquez lost touch with the leading trio and finished over two seconds behind them in fourth.

It marked the end of his three-race podium streak in 2024 and swelled his deficit to championship leader Martin to 35 points, with seven of the 20 rounds now complete.

Speaking of his Mugello result, the 31-year-old explained that he took too much life out of his tyres while chasing Bastianini for third and didn’t have anything left to put up a fight in the final laps of the race.

“I said to you that for me it doesn’t matter [where I finish]. We know what is our right position right now and we know that here Pecco was super strong,” he said of his result. “In fact he did an incredible weekend. 

“But one more time we were very close to ’24 bikes. We were fighting for the top and I was enjoying so super happy about the weekend overall.

“It’s true that in the race I was stuck behind Bastianini. I tried to overtake him but it was impossible. In the end it was possible but I already used a lot of rear tyre.

«But when I overtook him the pace was good and I was catching step by step Martin, tenth by tenth but on the last two laps Bastianini, you see, he had like a new rear tyre. 

“He was extremely fast on the last lap. I gave up. I said time to finish fourth and in three weeks time we will have another race.”

Marquez revealed that he received two warnings while going into the opening right-hander, which was enough for him to back off from the fight and consolidate fourth position behind the trio of GP24-equipped riders.

“The front temperature go up, the front pressure go up,» he said. «I tried to come back, I tried to open a gap and come back, just tried to see what was possible to do. You can see how I braked in Turn 1 with both tyres, both tyres were sliding. I said one time is okay, but two times not anymore.”

Marquez joined the satellite Gresini squad as a six-time MotoGP champion, with his records easily making him the most successful riders in the history of the premier class.

Asked how hard it was to concede defeat in the Italian GP given his past successes, Marquez said: “[It was] easy because I won a lot but I suffered a lot. 

“And the last four years I suffered much more than I won. So not it’s easy. 

“I try today and I save some moments but it was not possible. So for me fourth place here in Mugello is a good result.”

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Bagnaia leads factory Ducati 1-2

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Bagnaia — who was demoted from second to fifth due to a grid penalty — claimed the lead at Turn 2 on the opening lap and never looked back, taking the chequered flag by 0.8s over team-mate Bastianini, as championship leader Jorge Martin had to settle for third.

At the start of the race, Bagnaia made a brilliant launch from fifth on the grid, taking the outside line into Turn 1 to shoot up to second position, before sending his factory Ducati up the inside of Martin to snatch the lead.

Once in front, Bagnaia set a series of fastest laps to break away from Martin, although the Pramac rider was able to cut his deficit back to 0.6s at the halfway stage of the race.

There was a bit of late pressure for Bagnaia with three laps to go as Martin closed his lead to under three tenths, threatening to deny him a victory on his home turf.

But Bagnaia was able to respond to Martin’s pace on the next tour to pull himself clear and complete a double win at Mugello, having also won Saturday’s sprint race with a similarly brilliant start.

Martin looked set to finish behind his chief championship rival, but Bastianini rallied late on to snatch second position from the Spaniard at the final corner and complete a surprise 1-2 finish for the factory Ducati team.

Marc Marquez spent the majority of the race circulating behind the second factory Ducati of Enea Bastianini, even making a mistake at Turn 1 on lap three and bringing Tech3 GasGas’s Pedro Acosta into play.

After resisting the advances of Acosta, who himself ran wide at the final corner a few laps later, Marquez again started piling pressure on Bastianini, but struggled to find a way through on the Italian.

It was only with six laps remaining in the race that Marquez finally got through on Bastianini with a typical block pass into the opening right-hander.

However, Bastianini never allowed Marquez to run away with third position and on the penultimate lap he nudged the Gresini rider aside to claim third. He would then pick off Martin to equal his best finish of the season.

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Acosta was once again the top rider from the KTM contingent in fifth, as Pramac’s Franco Morbidelli celebrated the best result of the season in sixth ahead of VR46 rider Fabio Di Giannantonio.

Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales couldn’t convert his front row start into a top position, dropping behind Di Giannantonio in the latter stages to end up eighth at the finish.

The top 10 was completed by Gresini’s Alex Marquez and factory KTM rider Brad Binder.

Aleix Espargaro was 11th on an underwhelming weekend for Aprilia, with Trackhouse duo Raul Fernandez and Miguel Oliveira ending up 12th and 14th respectively.

Separating the two two Trackhouse riders was VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi, as Alex Rins took home the final championship point in 15th for Yamaha.

The Japanese marque was unable to convert its impressive practice pace into a strong finish, with team-mate Fabio Quartararo only 18th behind KTM race rider Jack Miller and wildcard entrant Pol Espargaro.

LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami, Honda rider Joan Mir and Tech3 sophomore Augusto Fernandez were the only riders to retire from the race, the latter furiously gesticulating at his pit crew after pulling into the pits on lap three.

MotoGP Italian GP result

 



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