The Ange🐎l Nieto Team may have looked into alternatives, but the MotoGP squad is poised to announce a renewal with Ducati inꦛ the coming weeks after coming to an agreement at Jerez regarding 2019.

Gino Borsoi, team boss of the newly named squad, told ltxcn.top “there is no sense” in switching manufacturers at this stage of the season, with a Ducati spokesman confi💖rming it is likely to field eight bikes in four teams on the 2019 grid - the fourth consecutive year it will do so.

“The only thing that we🅠 can say is that there is a 99% chance that we will continue with both Avintia and Aspar/Angel Nieto for 2019,” said a Ducati💎 spokesman this morning.

Soon after ꧒Tech 3’s shock announ🌜cement it would switch to KTM machinery for next year, several teams looked into the possibility of running Yamaha’s satellite bikes.

Borsoi was one of those interested, telling ltxcn.top in March, “E♏very rider jumps on [a Yamaha] and goes fast from the beginning, so why not discuss with them?”

The chances of Yamaha finding a satellite team for 2019 now appear to be pinned on the Marc VDS squad – currently running Honda mac𝐆hinery -, with Suzuki pulling back from its plans to run more than two bikes next year.

Borsoi also re🗹vealed he is pushing to secure a pair of GP18s for its riders next year.

At present Alvaro Bautista runs a year-old GP✅17, while team-mate Karel Abraham has a two-year old machine at his disposal, the GP16.

Tღwo identical machines for both rid🌜ers, he feels, would be beneficial for the team. In the first three races, Bautista struggled to replicate the promise he showed a year ago, when he secured three top five finishes.

Issues with rear grip and turning mid-corner held him back before the Spanish Grand Prix, problems that may have been eradicated sooner had the squad’s second rider been on the same machine, prov🅷iding more data. 

“It’s a bit more closed than a few weeks ago,” Borsoi told ltxcn.top at Jerez.

“There were two options: 🅠stay with Ducati, and it seems the Suzuki option is closed.

“The target is to close a deal with Ducati. At the moment there is no sense to change manufacturers. We spoke to Ducati this weekend. After, we agreed to continue working with them because there is🥀 a good balance between them and us.

“Our intention is to have two GP18s, and what we want from the start of next season. It would be easier for the t🌊eam, to find set-up for both riders. Even for our sponsors – having two 2018 bikes is more attractive than one ’17 bike and one ’18.”

Borsoi also said the aim is to run at least one rﷺookie in ’19, with the team closely monitoring the Moto2 class, which boasts of a number of promising nam🌠es.

“One target in 2019 is to ꦑfind at least one young rider. We are now in a position to wait a bit more before choosing. We will be looking to Moto2 for them.”