Fabio Quartararo wants Pramac to prioritise signing one-time MotoGP race winner Fabio Di Giannantonio for 2025 when it becomes a Yamaha satellite team.
During last weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix, Yamaha announced it had signed a long-term deal with Pramac for it to become its factory-backed satellite partner from 2025.
Since that announcement, the list of riders linked to the two Pramac Yamahas has grown.
But on Thursday ahead of the German Grand Prix, 2021 world champion Quartararo made it clear who he thinks Pramac should be aiming for.
“This guy on my right [Di Giannantonio],” he said in the pre-event press conference at the Sachsenring. “I think Fabio can be the one that can make a really good job for Yamaha.
“I’m pushing him on the way to Yamaha because, of course, the last 10 months he has been doing a really great job. We need a rider like him to really improve on our project.
“A rookie can be also a good idea. I think [Sergio] Garcia, [Alonso] Lopez are names that are really fast in Moto2 and they can earn their place into a team like Pramac that in the end it will not a be a satellite team – it’s an extension of the factory.”
Di Giannantonio only had his 2024 ride confirmed after last season finished, with VR46 Ducati offering the 2023 Qatar GP winner a lifeline following Gresini’s decision to replace him with Marc Marquez.
On the 2023-spec Ducati at VR46, Di Giannantonio has scored double the points of his three-time GP-winning team-mate Marco Bezzecchi and is second-best GP23 rider in the standings behind Marquez.
The Italian confirmed he is in talks with Yamaha and VR46, which is set to get one factory Ducati in 2025 – and will “define” his “plan A” this weekend.
“I’m grateful of this situation and also to Fabio honestly, because to have these words from a colleague – a rival but also a friend – is always so good,” he said.
“It’s not a secret that we are talking with Yamaha, but also my team, and the plan C that I cannot say. I was talking with Fabio last week about how the project is.
“As I said, I’m in a good situation where I can decide my future and this weekend I will define, more or less, the way for my plan A.”
