The Italian reinforced the good relationship he has with the Australian and made it clear that he would like to continue having him as a teammate, but stressed that the decision is solely Ducati's
Francesco Bagnaia has acknowledged that Enea Bastianini "is deserving of the spot" in the Ducati factory team in 2023. The Torino rider, however, has expressed a desire to continue his partnership with Jack Miller, who has been his teammate since 2019.
The house of Bologna has promised to define in June who will be the teammate of Bagnaia, who has already renewed his contract until 2024. The dispute is internal and is between Miller, the current starter; Jorge Martín, who currently races for Pramac; and Bastianini, who defends Gresini.
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In theory, the Pramac riders would be first in line for an eventual replacement in the factory team, but Martín has not had a good year. Of the seven races contested so far, the Spaniard has not completed four. As a result, he occupies 15th place in the Drivers' World Championship, 74 points behind leader Fabio Quartararo.
Bastianini, on the other hand, is the only driver to have repeated victories in 2022 and already has three wins. The Italian is now third in the race, only eight points behind the leader.
Speaking to the press in France, Bagnaia reinforced the good relationship he has with Miller and expressed his desire to continue sharing the pits with the Australian. Francesco acknowledged, however, that this is a choice that is up to Ducati.
"It's like I said, Jack is my teammate since 2019 and I know him very well," Pecco said. "So it's normal that if you have to choose a teammate to share your pit, you want the guy who you talk to the most, who you spend the most time with," he followed.
"So, for sure, yesterday I said Jack is one of my first choices, because he is a friend, a good teammate, I like working with him," he praised. "But it's something the team has to decide," he stressed.
Even though he has a clear preference, Pecco stressed that he has always been able to have good relations inside the pits and admitted that Bastianini has earned his place.
"So, if it's Enea, if it's Martín, for me it will be the same. I've always had a good relationship with my teammates," he pointed out. "I think Enea is deserving of the spot, because until Austin he was very competitive, and today he won," he acknowledged.
MotoGP returns to the track on May 29 for the Italian GP at Mugello, the eighth round of the 2022 season.GRANDE PRÊMIO is following all the activities of the 2022MotoGP World Championship.