Ducati name the only ‘team order’ they demand riders adhere to

Factory Ducati rider and reigning champion Francesco Bagnaia sits atop the MotoGP standings, with Pramac’s Jorge Martin and Mooney VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi still in contention to claim glory.

Last season Ducati let Bagnaia and then-Gresini rider Enea Bastianini scrap wheel-to-wheel as the championship race heated up.

“Everybody said ‘team orders!’ We didn’t give team orders,” sporting director Ciabatti insisted. 

“There was a moment with Bezzecchi fourth, closing on Fabio Quartararo in third [in Sepang].

“If he was third, Bagnaia would clinch the title which was very important.

“We said: ‘What shall we do if Marco passes Fabio?’”

In the end, it didn’t happen, sparing Ducati an awkward decision.

But, such is their dominance this year, that three of their riders are contesting the MotoGP title.

Ciabatti responded to claims that he will enforce team orders to decide who is allowed to pass: “Not true. People might think I’m lying, but I’m not.

“I tell our riders: ‘Please don’t take out another Ducati rider trying an over-ambitious pass, don’t do it on another Ducati when they are fighting for the championship’.

“That is the only thing I have ever said.

“I never said to anyone: ‘You should stay behind’.

“We know a rider, when he has a chance to win, wants to win.

“I don’t want to see anymore of the Andrea Iannone-Andrea Dovizioso [famous collision in Argentina in 2016] on the last corner! That’s the only thing I don’t want to see between Ducati riders.”

Iannone notoriously wiped out both himself and teammate Dovizioso just metres from the end of the Argentina MotoGP seven years ago.

It cost Dovizioso the possibility to fight Marc Marquez for the championship, an almighty blow for Ducati amid their years of struggle.

That period only ended last year when Bagnaia delivered Ducati their first title since Casey Stoner’s in 2022, and he did it with fellow Ducati rider Bastianini as his fiercest competitor in the final weeks.