Pramac has announced that it will part ways with Ducati at the end of the current MotoGP season to become a satellite Yamaha team in 2025.
As revealed by Autosport on Thursday, the Italian outfit will bring the curtain down to a relationship that began almost two decades ago in 2005 to ink a new multi-year deal with Yamaha.
Pramac has appeared stronger than ever this year with two factory-spec GP24s, with Jorge Martin taking an 18-point lead to this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix at Assen. But despite competitive performance on track, a series of other disagreements with Ducati led Paolo Campinoti’s squad to not take up the option it had to renew its contract with Ducati.
Campinoti had detected a growing interest from Ducati in the VR46 structure, and the Italian marque even raised the possibility of Pramac giving up an official bike to Valentino Rossi's team, which triggered a war - and the eventual separation between the two parties.
Their split however means Yamaha will once again have a satellite team in its stable, the culmination of the efforts of team boss Lin Jarvis who is due to retire from his post at the end of 2024.
Getting two additional Yamaha M1s on the 2025 grid was the next main goal for Jarvis after he had successfully convinced 2021 champion Fabio Quartararo to remain with the Japanese manufacturer under a new multi-year deal.
Bringing Pramac under its fold is expected to be a major boost for Yamaha in its quest to return to the sharp end of the grid, as it will have more resources to develop the M1.
The Iwata brand intends on supplying four identical bikes across its two teams next season, offering parity of equipment to Pramac as part of the contract. It marks a change of philosophy for the brand, having previously focused on doing business rather than improving the competitiveness of its bikes with satellite teams.
It’s not yet clear which two riders will line up for Pramac next year, with Martin already having announced his decision to join the factory Aprilia team next year.
The rider market shape-up caused by Ducati, which has signed Marc Marquez to partner Francesco Bagnaia at its works team next year, doesn’t leave many top-quality alternatives for the squad.
But from the current grid, VR46’s Fabio di Giannantonio and Trackhouse rider Miguel Oliveira appear to be the most logical picks. The future of factory Yamaha rider Alex Rins also remains unclear at this stage.
Another candidate that has been talked about a lot recently is World Superbike superstar Toprak Razgatlioglu, although the Turkish rider is tied to BMW until 2026 and will need to find a way to break his contract.
Pramac could consider promoting young riders as well, so Moto2 Sergio Garcia or Alonso Lopez cannot be ruled out.
As a consequence of Pramac tying up with Yamaha, VR46 will automatically inherit its current position and enjoy factory support from next year.
In principle, the squad should receive two identical bikes to factory team riders Marquez and Bagnaia, along with full technical support. But, that is assuming that VR46 will agree to cover the price of two VR46s instead of just one.
VR46 has not decided on its line-up either, although one of the riders should be Fermin Aldeguer, who was signed by Ducati at the beginning of the year and was set to be originally placed at Pramac.
The other rider, due to familiarity to Ducati, could be Martin’s current Pramac team-mate Franco Morbidelli.
