'99%' chance of Angel Nieto, Avintia renewing with Ducati

The Angel Nieto Team may have looked into alternatives, but the MotoGP squad is poised to announce a renewal with Ducati in the coming weeks after coming to an agreement at Jerez regarding 2019.

Gino Borsoi, team boss of the newly named squad, told Crash.net “there is no sense” in switching manufacturers at this stage of the season, with a Ducati spokesman confirming it is likely to field eight bikes in four teams on the 2019 grid - the fourth consecutive year it will do so.

“The only thing that we can say is that there is a 99% chance that we will continue with both Avintia and Aspar/Angel Nieto for 2019,” said a Ducati spokesman this morning.

Soon after Tech 3’s shock announcement it would switch to KTM machinery for next year, several teams looked into the possibility of running Yamaha’s satellite bikes.

Borsoi was one of those interested, telling Crash.net in March, “Every rider jumps on [a Yamaha] and goes fast from the beginning, so why not discuss with them?”

The chances of Yamaha finding a satellite team for 2019 now appear to be pinned on the Marc VDS squad – currently running Honda machinery -, with Suzuki pulling back from its plans to run more than two bikes next year.

Borsoi also revealed he is pushing to secure a pair of GP18s for its riders next year.

At present Alvaro Bautista runs a year-old GP17, while team-mate Karel Abraham has a two-year old machine at his disposal, the GP16.

Two identical machines for both riders, he feels, would be beneficial for the team. In the first three races, Bautista struggled to replicate the promise he showed a year ago, when he secured three top five finishes.

Issues with rear grip and turning mid-corner held him back before the Spanish Grand Prix, problems that may have been eradicated sooner had the squad’s second rider been on the same machine, providing more data. 

“It’s a bit more closed than a few weeks ago,” Borsoi told Crash.net at Jerez.

“There were two options: stay with Ducati, and it seems the Suzuki option is closed.

“The target is to close a deal with Ducati. At the moment there is no sense to change manufacturers. We spoke to Ducati this weekend. After, we agreed to continue working with them because there is a good balance between them and us.

“Our intention is to have two GP18s, and what we want from the start of next season. It would be easier for the team, to find set-up for both riders. Even for our sponsors – having two 2018 bikes is more attractive than one ’17 bike and one ’18.”

Borsoi also said the aim is to run at least one rookie in ’19, with the team closely monitoring the Moto2 class, which boasts of a number of promising names.

“One target in 2019 is to find at least one young rider. We are now in a position to wait a bit more before choosing. We will be looking to Moto2 for them.”