MotoGP, Pramac with the Ducati GP17 during Jerez testing

As is now well known, Jorge Lorenzo will only be able to test the Ducati on Tuesday and Wednesday after the Valencia race, and will then have to wait until testing at Sepang next year before he can get back on the red bike. This means that the factory team won't test at Jerez from 23-25 November.

The five days of private tests allowed each year are calculated by team, not by rider, meaning that to test with Dovizioso alone would result in 2 days being 'lost'. Development of the new GP17 has to continue though, and so Ducati has decided to use team Pramac in order to move forward with the work.

One of the Italian team's rider - either Petrucci or Redding - will have the factory bike next year, a 'prize' that will be awarded on Sunday evening once the internal derby concludes - one that currently sees Danilo with a 16-point advantage.

The winner of this battle will climb aboard a "hybrid" Desmosedici on Tuesday, one with a 2016 base and some 2017 parts. The two already equipped GP17s will be entrusted to Lorenzo and Dovizioso. At the end of the test session, the technicians will decide how to proceed with development ahead of the Jerez tests.

On that occasion Pirro will take to the track, but the men in Ducati are thinking about giving the other GP17 to Pramac so that the work can continue. The decision to give a factory bike to a satellite team was, after all, made with the intention of being able to use it as a sort of additional “test team”.

During the Jerez tests, all Ducati teams (expect the factory squad) will be on track together with the Honda, Aprilia, Suzuki and KTM teams. Some SBK outfits will also be there, Ducati of course, as well as Yamaha, Kawasaki, MV and probably Honda too.