Petrucci Out At Ducati
D
anilo Petrucci has revealed
he will leave the factory
Ducati MotoGP team to make
way for incoming Jack Miller in
2021.
Petrucci, winner of the 2019
Italian MotoGP, moved up to the
factory squad after four years as
a Pramac Ducati rider from 2015
to 2018, the last of which when
he was teammate to the Austra-
lian, Miller.
The Italian now must search
for a new ride, and there are lim-
ited options in MotoGP. Petrucci
admitted he would be delighted
to join Aprilia and ride the all-new
RS-GP machine for 2021, but
this option would only be avail-
able should Andrea Iannone's
18-month doping ban be upheld
by the Court of Arbitration for
Sport.
The second option is a seat at
the Red Bull KTM team along-
side Brad Binder, now that Pol
Espargaro appears to have
agreed to terms to partner Marc
Marquez in 2021.
"I would love [to go to] Aprilia,
which has a new bike and has
aroused a lot of curiosity, because
it was fast right away and this is
something that is seen very rarely,"
Petrucci told Sky Italia. "In the
[pre-season] tests, they went very
fast. So, I would like to go with
Aprilia. I would also like to go with
KTM, because they too have been
growing and are working hard.
"Then [on Thursday], there
was this news—which I don't
know if it's official or not—of Pol
leaving KTM. His decision to
leave the team is a bit surprising,
because he was the cornerstone
of the project.
"But here, there are two manu-
facturers that could take profit of
my experience, which in MotoGP
is a few years."
Another possible move
for the popular Petrucci is to
WorldSBK in the factory Ducati
squad alongside former Pramac
Ducati teammate Scott Redding.
Should this come to pass, Chaz
Davies, a factory Ducati WorldS-
BK since 2014, would have to
make way CN
IN
THE
WIND
P36
Danilo Petrucci could
be heading to Aprilia,
or KTM, or Ducati
WorldSBK, or...
