Four reasons provided by Ducati to justify Jorge Martin snub
Four characteristics offered which explain why Jorge Martin was ignored
Ducati have justified their snub of Jorge Martin by describing four key characteristics where Marc Marquez is superior.
The 2024 MotoGP champion Martin will ride for Aprilia this year, taking the #1 plate with him.
He won the title on a dominant Ducati, for the independent Pramac team, but it still wasn’t enough to pip Marquez to a promotion into the factory garage.
“First: infinite thanks to Jorge Martin for everything he has given us,” Ducati boss Davide Tardozzi told El Periodico.
“Second: Ducati always, always, worked so that Martin could win the title.
“And, third, we didn't care, if Jorge finally took the title, that the #1 goes to Aprilia.
“Having said this, which is very important to us and Martín himself has thanked us publicly, we can talk about the matter.
“The decision to choose between Jorge and Marc was hard and very difficult.
“It was thought and rethought for days, weeks and months, at Ducati, between all of us.
“We decided to offer the place to Marc because we thought he could bring much more experience, charisma, speed and knowledge of the category than Jorge.
“Everyone in the paddock knows that Marc is Marc, right?”
Ducati can now look forward to possessing a stellar rider line-up with Marquez and Pecco Bagnaia this season.
Although Tardozzi’s work might be cut out to manage their ambitions to win the championship.
Martin, meanwhile, will launch his title defence on the inferior Aprilia machinery.
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
