Rossi Protégé Francesco Bagnaia to MotoGP in 2019
Rennie Scaysbrook | February 21, 2018
Rossi Protégé Francesco Bagnaia to MotoGP in 2019—Current Moto2 championship hopeful and long-time Valentino Rossi protégé, Francesco Bagnaia, will graduate to MotoGP with Pramac Ducati in 2019.
Rossi Protégé Francesco Bagnaia to MotoGP in 2019
Bagnaia currently races for Rossi’s Sky VR46 outfit in Moto2 on a Kalex chassis, with his graduation to the premier class coming at the expense of Danilo Petrucci, who is rumored to be joining the Aprilia Gresini team for 2019.
Bagnaia had been in advanced talks with satellite Pramac Ducati since the beginning of the year, but his contract will be directly with the Ducati factory in Bologna, much in the same way Cal Crutchlow’s contract is with Honda.
Bagnaia had already ridden a MotoGP Ducati machine in 2016 at a Sepang test when he was rewarded for winning two Moto3 races for the Aspar Mahindra team, which runs Ducatis in MotoGP. He placed fourth overall in the 2016 Moto3 season, moving up to Moto2 in 2017 and finishing as top series rookie in fifth place.
His teammate is widely expected to be Australian Jack Miller, who is embarking on his first season with the Pramac team after three years on satellite Honda machinery.