Ducati MotoGP boss: Iannone’s continuing errors will NOT factor in wishlist for Lorenzo

As you might imagine given the coming together between Iannone and Dovizioso, some Italian press were hot for chasing down Paolo Ciabatti and seeing if Iannone’s second big error in as many MotoGP races would help or hinder the much-rumoured pursuance of Jorge Lorenzo by the Ducati team.

Currently, Yamaha has offered Lorenzo a new contract to stay with the Japanese concern but that’s not been signed (many believe that Rossi’s agreement to another two years on the blue bikes is a major factor in Jorge holding off), it’s widely known that there’s an offer from Ducati on the table too and we were the first to bring you acknowledgement of that offer last week when we reported on Giacomo Agostini’s confirmation of the deal.

And given what happened in Argentina it looks like Andrea Iannone has done himself absolutely no favours for staying on in the Ducati squad, unsurprisingly. Ciabatti said: “With regards to Lorenzo singing an NDA, things are not exactly like that.

“But we have said that we are looking at signing one of the top riders who are out of a contract. There are two mistakes that have been made by Iannone that are decisive for the future but things cannot be judged just by these events.

“For sure he is a fast rider but he should also be consistent and happy in the race.” Iannone has been given a three-place grid penalty by the MotoGP commission for next weekend’s race in Austin, Texas.

Race Direction also released the following statement to Iannone: “On 3rd April 2016 during the last lap of MotoGP race of the Gran Premio Motul de la Republica Argentina, you overtook rider nr.4, in a way much too optimistic, you lost  control of your machine resulting in contact and crash of this rider.”