IN
THE
WIND
P34
BAGNAIA IN
TALKS WITH
PRAMAC DUCATI
2
017 Moto2 Rookie of the Year, Francesco 'Pec-
co' Bagnaia is in the final stages of negotiations
with Pramac Ducati for a MotoGP seat in 2019.
The 21-year-old Italian finished fifth in the 2017
Moto2 World Championship for the VR46 squad
on Kalex machinery and has already tested the
Pull&Bear Aspar Ducati in 2016, when he rode for
the Aspar Moto3 Mahindra team and made a bet
with team manager Jorge Martinez that he would
win two Moto3 races that season—which he duly
did.
Bagnaia is one of the hottest young prospects
coming through and his promotion to the Pramac
team would likely come at the expense of Danilo
Petrucci, who after an impressive season is eyeing
one of the open positions in the factory Ducati
team, as both Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizio-
so are out of contract at the end of 2018.
Should neither position become available to Pe-
trucci, it is thought he will likely sign for the Gresini
Aprilia squad. CN
The big time
beckons
for Pecco
Bagnaia.
RINALDI STEPS UP TO WORLDSBK
E
uropean Superstock 1000 Champion Michael
Rinaldi will move into the World Superbike
Championship in 2018 on a factory Ducati as part
of the newly-formed Aruba.it Junior Team.
The Junior Team will contest only the Euro-
pean rounds of the series, starting at the Aragon
WorldSBK round in April.
"The goal is first and foremost to learn as much
as possible, and to improve both my riding and
my working approach, but clearly we'll also try to
show our potential, because we have all the nec-
essary tools to achieve good results," said Rinaldi.
Team boss Stefano Cecconi noted the Junior
Team is the result of increased development in
new riding talent for the WorldSBK team.
"Two years ago when we decided to double
our commitment and create the Aruba.it Racing
Junior Team, our main goal was to select young
talents and give them a chance to develop as
riders. After taking the Superstock 1000 title last
year with Michael, the rider's and team's debut
in WorldSBK was the obvious next step to take
on this path." CN
Rinaldi will get a shot in the European round of
the 2018 WorldSBK Championship.
