Whilst nothing concrete has been announced by any party the rumours that Ben Spies has or will sign with Pramac are becoming hard to ignore.
A quick recap: Spies announced he was leaving MotoGP when he heard from inside the team that Valentino Rossi would be joining the Yamaha factory team. This was obviously announced in a fit of pique. Soon afterwards the official announcement was made, and shortly after that Andrea Dovizioso was announced at Ducati for 2013 alongside Nicky Hayden.
So Spies knew he was being bumped from the factory ride at Yamaha and that there was no chance at Ducati and instead announced his departure from MotoGP. Everybody presumed he would show up in WSBK for 2013.
But it has become clear in recent weeks that Ducati will run a satellite team, probably under the aegis of Pramac, with almost full factory specifications. We told you that here.
So that, effectively, means that two more factory rides are now available. Initial thoughts were that the favoured riders would be Andrea Iannone and Scott Redding but it seems Redding has been cast aside in favour of Ben Spies who has more up to date and relevant experience of a MotoGP bike.
The Rossi and Dovizioso rumours turned out to be true. Given the sheer number of people saying it, it is hard not to believe Ben Spies will end up at Pramac Ducati in 2013.
It would seem Scott Redding will need to spend another year in Moto2.