Ducati closing in on Avintia deal for 2015

Ducati moved a step closer to expanding its MotoGP effort to six bikes next year following advanced talks with the Spanish-based Avintia Racing squad in Indianapolis.

It is no secret that Avintia boss Raul Romero has been negotiating with Ducati in recent weeks and showing there is nothing to hide, he sat for a lengthy chat with Bologna factory boss Paolo Ciabatti in the Indianapolis media centre on Saturday afternoon.

Ciabatti is confident a deal will be finalised imminently with Avintia, which has been running a Kawasaki ZX-10-powered machine this season.

Spaniard Hector Barbera is expected to stay, while current Ioda Racing rider Danilo Petrucci is a candidate for the second seat.

Ducati confirmed it will make available Andrea Dovizioso’s current GP14 Desmosedici machinery for Avintia but it will run in Open class spec, meaning it won’t use Ducati’s own electronics software.

Ciabatti told MCN: “We have almost finalised a deal with Avintia and they will get GP14s in the Open class. They will be the current spec GP14 that we are using now. We hope to finalise this at Brno.”