MotoGP is moving to Argentina for the second round of the season and in the meantime riders and team managers are already working for 2019 and 2020 seasons. Ducati is at the heart of negotiations and Andrea Dovizioso, who won the first 2018 race in Qatar, currently represents the real swing vote. An article by Paolo Ianieri published on Wednesday 3rd April 2018 on La Gazzetta dello Sport talks about thie topic.
DUCATI WANTS DOVI – “Yamaha has already renewed the contract with Valentino Rossi and Maverick Viñales till 2020 and Honda did the same thing with Marc Marquez. Now the focus is on Ducati: Will the manufacturer based in Borgo Panigale confirm both Andrea Dovizioso and Jorge Lorenzo? Or will they change their line-up?” the “Pink Newspaper” reports.
LORENZO: QUOTATIONS ARE GOING DOWN – “After winning the season opener in Qatar, Dovizioso has confirmed that he’s the core of Ducati’s goals and ambition and the Italian manufacturer has admitted that negotiations will first start with Dovi. The team, whose budget for riders is said to be around €11 million, aims renewing the contract with Dovizioso by the Spanish GP taking place on 6th May at Jerez. Ducati will propose to Andrea a huge increase of his salary, that will grow from the current €1.5 to around €5 or 6 million. In the past Ducati said that the salary is mainly based on the results…Well, Dovizioso’s value has increased a lot in the last year and a half, while quotations have been falling down for Jorge Lorenzo, whose salary will be lower than the €12.5 million he’s currently paid. There’s another thing to consider: Danilo Petrucci has improved a lot in the last few seasons and now he represents a sword hanging over Lorenzo’s head, especially if the rider from Terni maintains the speed and strength he has shown lately. Jorge must get a good resut in Argentina and he will have to do this without Alex Debon. The ex-rider, that Jorge had employed as his coach, has just worsened the situation in Ducati box and this led Jorge to sack him. After the nervous weekend he had in Qatar (where he crashed because of a technical issue with the front brake), Lorenzo has to rise again immediately. Will he do it?