Ducati sporting director Paolo Ciabatti has named Jack Miller amongst three riders on the Italian manufacturer’s radar to take up a seat that could potentially open at Ducati Team for the 2020 MotoGP World Championship.

Ciabatti mentioned the Australian alongside its current investments Danilo Petrucci – who was promoted the factory team for this season – and Miller’s new teammate at Pramac Racing, premier class rookie Francesco Bagnaia.

Results in this year’s championship will ultimately determine who will race alongside Andrea Dovizioso next season, with Petrucci’s one-year signing ensuring it will be a make or break year for the Italian with the company,

“The results of Petrucci, Jack and Pecco will lead us to decide which rider will be in the official team in 2020,” Ciabatti told Motorsport.com. “We have three good candidates to fight for the 2020 factory ride. Pecco did an amazing season in Moto2 – we hired him in January and it was a gamble.

“We signed him thinking about our future, and now we know it was the right decision. Next year he will ride a 2018 Desmosedici, and we’ve demonstrated that it is a very competitive bike, although I expect the 2019 [version] to be even more competitive. Debuting in MotoGP is always difficult, but I think he will learn a lot and very quickly, having Jack as reference [at Pramac].”

“Danilo will have to face more pressure, and his goal will be to win for the first time and always fight to end up within the top five. Danilo’s target isn’t beating Dovizioso, although if he can do it, that would be perfect. The idea is that he needs to gain confidence rather than try to show that he’s better than Dovi.”

The 2019 MotoGP World Championship will officially commence on 10 March at Losail International Circuit in Qatar, while the first test of the season is scheduled for 6 February at Sepang in Malaysia.