Ducati issues rider warning: ‘Don’t do stupid things’
No team orders at Ducati in title fight but one warning issued
Ducati is seemingly carrying on with its no team orders policy in the 2024 MotoGP title battle finale, but has urged its stable “don’t do stupid things”.
Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia head into next weekend’s season finale in Barcelona split by 24 points, with the former needing to outscore his rival by two to win the championship.
For weeks, Ducati riders have been asked about being given factory orders, with the Italian marque electing against this.
One of the biggest issues Ducati faces in implementing any orders is the fact that Martin and Bagnaia have been a clear step ahead of their rivals.
At the Malaysian GP, third-placed Enea Bastianini was seven seconds away from Martin and 10.4s away from team-mate Bagnaia.
The two Ducati riders able to get into the lead group - Bastianini and Marc Marquez - have also got their own battle for third in the standings to consider, with the latter heading this by a point.
For Ducati team manager Davide Tardozzi, he sees organising any factory orders as “very difficult” - but says the marque will continue to issue the same warning it has all year.
“It’s very difficult because Jorge and Pecco are playing for number one, but the two riders who can help this situation one way or the other are Marc and Enea,” he told TNT Sport.
“And they are playing for number three [in the championship].
“In the end, third place in the championship is not bad for many reasons.
“So, I think it will be difficult to discuss something like that. On top of that, I like to let the riders be free to play for their own championship.
“[We say] what we’ve said already since the middle of the year: don’t do stupid things between you. We don’t want to have really bad [blood] or something like that between our top guys.”
The most famous example of Ducati team orders came in 2017, when Jorge Lorenzo was twice issued a ‘mapping 8’ message to his dashboard as code to let team-mate Andrea Dovizioso through.
While Dovizioso ended up ahead of Lorenzo at the Malaysian GP after this message was given, there was no compliance at the Valencia finale.
In the last two years, Ducati has also elected against issuing factory orders.
