Bastianini: Being Bagnaia’s Ducati MotoGP team-mate “could be a problem for him”

Bastianini won Sunday’s French GP at Le Mans after a brief dice with Bagnaia that ended up with the factory Ducati rider making a mistake while leading on lap 21 of 27 and crashing out a few corners later.

It marked the third win of the season for Bastianini aboard his Gresini-run 2021-spec Ducati and has put him just eight points off the championship lead.

It has also come at a crucial juncture in terms of his MotoGP future, as he is one of the favourites – alongside Jorge Martin, who crashed at Le Mans – to take Jack Miller’s place at the factory Ducati squad next season.

When asked by Autosport on Sunday at Le Mans if he felt he was giving Ducati no choice but to promote him to its factory squad, Bastianini said: “I don’t know. I’m not the Ducati boss.

“But I think my situation is better in respect to the other Ducati riders.

“Pecco yesterday said he’d prefer to stay with Jack [as a team-mate].

“And I think his decision, I don’t know if Ducati wants to listen to him.

“But, also in the case of staying at Gresini or other [teams] with a factory package I can be fast.”

And when asked why he thought Bagnaia would prefer to keep Miller as his team-mate, Bastianini remarked: “I think he prefers Miller because he is the leader of Ducati and he knows the potential of me, and also I think of Martin. It can be a problem for him.”

Jack Miller, Ducati Team, Enea Bastianini, Gresini Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Bagnaia refuted this when asked about it, stating that he believes Bastianini would deserve the call-up should it come, and only said he would prefer Miller if he had a choice because they have been together since 2019.

“Jack is my team-mate form 2019 and I know him very well,” Bagnaia said.

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