VR46 Ducati Team Manager Pablo Nieto has admitted that Franco Morbidelli is “on our minds” for a potential berth with the squad for 2024 amid rumours he could leave Yamaha.
Morbidelli set tongues wagging after last weekend’s Italian Grand Prix following comments he made to MotoGP.com regarding his future with the Japanese marque, Morbidelli giving a cryptic short answer of “who says I want to stay at Yamaha” before remarking that the media should “ask Lin (Jarvis, Yamaha Managing Director)” about the future partnership between the two parties.
Reports have also indicated in recent days that in-form current VR46 rider Marco Bezzecchi could well be set to move to the Pramac Ducati outfit for 2024 on one of its up-to-date spec Desmosedici’s, the Italian running a year-old machine with VR46 this year – which would open up a seat with the Valentino Rossi-owned operation should the move come off.
Speaking ahead of this weekend’s German GP, Nieto insisted that the team’s preferred option would be to keep its current line-up for the ’24 campaign, though admitted that the potentially on-the-market Morbidelli is “on our minds.”
“We’re still working, it’s true that we are happy with our riders as they are both doing as really nice job this year, so our idea is to keep them as its important for us to continue as we are only two years old and it is still quite early for us,” explained Nieto.
“At the end of the day the idea is that when riders come to our team we are working to allow them to reach the factory team, this is our goal and it would show we are doing a really good job and that the rider’s are really fast.
“I think Frankie (Morbidelli) is a very fast rider and we’ve seen him make amazing races in the past and of course he’s part of the (VR46) academy, but our main aim is to try and keep our current riders – but it’s true that we like it because Franco with our team and our bike could allow us to do a very good job.
“It’s another option, but at the moment we have to keep pushing for our ideas, but it’s true that Franco is on our mind.”
