British MotoGP: Jorge Martinez confirms Ducati deal

Jorge Martinez’s Aspar squad has confirmed today at Donington Park that it will move to MotoGP in 2010 with Ducati.

After failed talks previously with Yamaha and Suzuki, the Spaniard also talked with Honda in the early part of 2010.

But he will run a GP10 for Bologna factory Ducati with a one-rider effort signed for 2010. Martinez then plans to increase his involvement to a two-rider squad in 2011.

Today’s announcement made no mention of who will ride Aspar’s Ducati next season, but it is widely expected that his current 250GP title contender Alvaro Bautista will take the ride.

Reluctant previously to ride for Ducati, the Spaniard is understood to have an assurance from Ducati that he will move into its factory team for the 2011 world championship.

Martinez, who has run a hugely a successful 125 and 250 team for years, said: “It seems that after three years we are finally able to achieve our dream of presenting a MotoGP project.

“It’s been three years of fighting and looking for the best option and after sounding out various factories; we have finally reached an agreement with Ducati. I hope that this will be a fruitful arrangement that will continue in the long term.

“In theory we will have one ride in 2010, with the idea being to expand to two in 2011. Our goal is primarily to grow strong in MotoGP from a technical viewpoint.

“We will continue with the 125cc team and compete in the Moto2 class, so we feel that this is a big step for the whole team.

“Today the big news is that we are moving up to MotoGP with Ducati, so the second thing is we have to confirm the rider. We hope to be able to do that by the time we get to Brno.”

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