Motorcycling-Gresini announce Ducati MotoGP partnership from 2022

(Reuters) - The Gresini MotoGP team announced on Thursday a deal to use Ducati bikes for the next two seasons with an all-Italian line-up of Enea Bastianini and Fabio di Giannantonio.

Gresini, currently partnering Aprilia, signed a contract with MotoGP rights holders Dorna last year to revert to being an independent outfit.

The team are now owned and run by Nadia Padovani after the death of her husband and team founder Fausto Gresini in February.

"We’re incredibly happy to have reached this agreement with Gresini Racing for the next two MotoGP seasons," said Ducati Corse general manager Gigi Dall'Igna in a statement ahead of this weekend's German Grand Prix.

"We had laid down the foundations of a possible agreement with Fausto already at the end of last year and we would like to thank, from the bottom of our hearts, his family for carrying this project forward with us."

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Pritha Sarkar)