Lowes confirms Gresini exit, tipped for Marc VDS?

UPDATE: Red Bull Ring, August 9th: The rumoured Alex Marquez-Petronas deal is now thought to have been vetoed. It seems the Marquez name is still not welcome at Yamaha and therefore Alex would have little to gain by joining the Malaysian team for a season of Moto2...

Avintia Ducati’s announcement that Tito Rabat will stay in the squad for two further years ensured all the MotoGP doors are closed for 2020. But speculation in the junior categories truly intensified at Brno.

One mover for 2020 will be Englishman Sam Lowes, who confirmed to Crash.net that he will be leaving the Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 squad at the end of this campaign after an up-and-down first half of the year.

But the 28-year old will remain in Grand Prix racing’s intermediate category for another season at least. “I have a deal for next year,” Lowes said on Sunday. “Not here [at Gresini], but I can’t say where.”

Crash.net has reason to believe Lowes has secured a deal at Marc VDS for next season that will see him compete aboard a Kalex chassis for the team that scored its 100^th GP podium on Sunday.

Marc VDS is gunning for its third Rider’s World Championship this year, and the move would represent a fantastic opportunity for Lowes, who has three wins and eleven podiums to his name in the class.

The Moto2 speculation doesn’t end there. At Brno the sensational news emerged linking championship leader Alex Marquez to the Petronas Sprinta Racing Team for 2020.

It’s believed any deal to take Marquez to the Malaysian team’s Moto2 outfit in 2020 would include a clause that sees him climb to the MotoGP category the following year aboard Yamaha machinery.

Responding to Crash.net, a senior member of the team admitted an interest in bringing a rider of Marquez’s calibre to the Moto2 outfit should the former Moto3 World Champion be available.

After coasting to his fifth win of the year, Marquez didn’t exactly quash the speculation. “I will continue in Moto2,” he said on Sunday. “I don’t know anything new. We are working on the final details. I will talk to Emilio [Alzamora – personal manager] tomorrow [Monday] to see what is going on.”

Marc VDS team boss Joan Olive said in mid-July the team had offered its lead rider a deal to extend his stay in the Belgian owned outfit for a sixth year but no further news has been forthcoming.

When approached on Sunday evening, Marquez’s manager Emilio Alzamora said, “[remaining with] Marc VDS is the priority” but a day later older brother Marc told the Catalan press that Alex was “still looking at options” with a path to MotoGP in 2021 the key.

The Petronas Sprinta Racing Team is seeking to secure a second seat in the Moto2 class in 2020. It’s expected current rider Khairul Idham Pawi will step down to contest Moto3 with the team next year, taking the place of Ayumu Sasaki.