Danilo Petrucci believes the second seat at the factory Ducati MotoGP team for 2019 will go to either himself or Pramac team-mate Jack Miller.
Ducati confirmed prior to the French Grand Prix weekend that it had agreed a new two-year deal with Andrea Dovizioso, while Jorge Lorenzo has been strongly linked with a switch to Suzuki having endured a tough 23 races with the Italian marque.
Both Petrucci and Miller have options in their current contracts to step up to the factory team should it wish, with the Italian – who was second at Le Mans – hoping Ducati will base its decision on performance from the “last two seasons” and not just in “four or five grands prix” this year.
Petrucci – who announced in January that '18 would be his last year with Pramac – has an offer from the factory Aprilia team for next season, while Miller is expected to get 2019 factory machinery even if he remains with Pramac.
“I hope they choose the rider in all the evaluation, not in four or five grands prix this year, but in the last maybe two seasons,” Petrucci said when asked if his Le Mans podium was important for his Ducati future.
“For sure it will be helpful, but I have other choices, but I have an option with them that lasts until the end of June.
“So I have to wait if they will say yes or not, and then I can look around. But at this moment, I think it's helpful.
“My target is always to do my best in the race, but for sure beating a factory Ducati is always important and Jorge is a great rider.
“He won a lot of championships. For sure, for the mind it's very, very helpful, but maybe this bike is not 100 percent fit for Jorge, but I don't know.
“I know this bike for three years, because the first year I join Pramac it was the GP14, was the very old bike.
“I think the choice for Ducati is me or Jack, but it's not a joke – it's because our salary is less.”
Ducati boss Paolo Ciabatti confirmed Petrucci, Miller and Lorenzo are the three options the team is considering for next year, and says a decision will be made after the Italian Grand Prix.
“Obviously we need to think about who will be the other rider in the team. At the moment we'd like to see the results of this race in Le Mans and also Mugello, and then make a decision.
“I think Andrea was saying obviously he knows about these two riders [Miller and Petrucci] have an option with Ducati, and also he knows that we don't have an unlimited budget for the other rider.
“So obviously Jorge is knows to have been one of our best paid riders in MotoGP in many years, and this could be an obstacle because we must be conscious about finding a viable solution where we can afford to have two riders but also do the development work that we need to do in this competitive championship.”
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