(Reuters) – Ducati will decide on the future of Italian rider Andrea Dovizioso after next week’s Styrian Grand Prix, team manager Davide Tardozzi said on Friday.
Dovizioso, 34, has won 13 races since joining Ducati in 2013, leading them to runners-up titles in three successive seasons.
Talks over a new contract have stalled, however, and Dovizioso’s manager last month hinted that his rider was considering taking a break.
“We will make a decision after these two races in Austria. A decision that won’t be conditioned by sporting results and it is not just the last race that will be taken into account,” Tardozzi told DAZN.
Five-times world champion Jorge Lorenzo, who retired last year and signed as a Yamaha factory test rider in January, has been linked with a return to Ducati, while Pramac Racing’s Francesco Bagnaia is also in the mix to partner Jack Miller next year.
“Jorge is an important rider for us. He won with us and we keep him in our hearts. We will see,” Tardozzi added.
(Reporting by Arvind Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
