Although Marc Marquez did not want to comment on whether he will still be in MotoGP in 2027, the new regulations are a step forward in his eyes.

Less technical restrictions and the ban of holeshot and ride-height devices means the rider will have more importance and opportunity to make the difference.

Marquez said: “We don’t know where we will be in 2027. Of course I checked the new rules, I didn’t go into it in a deep way but it looks like it is going more towards the show.

“Little bit less restrictions on the technical side and I think this is good for the riders. If you have less technical things on the bike the rider can make more of a difference and the value of the rider will be better.

“You will look for the rider and this is something I like. They did this a bit in Formula 1 last year.”

Following his best round with Ducati thus far, Marquez will be hoping to turn second into a first win aboard the GP23 at Le Mans.

Marquez came away from the Spanish GP with huge momentum behind him, which was the same feeling after the one-day Jerez test where more breakthroughs were made.

Marquez has a good record at Le Mans, and with rain potentially on the cards for Sunday’s grand prix, changeable conditions could increase his chances of a first win even further.

Asked about comments he made after Jerez where he hinted at his P2 finish being one of the best podium results of his career, Marquez said: “Of course, it was special because of where we are coming.

“It’s true that it was not a super special race, but it’s true that being the Spanish GP – we are coming from a very difficult moment.

“It had been a long time since a podium in the dry and to fight face-to-face with the winner of the race.

“I had the pace to be there and this was something super nice to feel. It has been a very long time since I didn’t feel fast in a race on Sunday.

“It was the first step and now we will see. We will have some problems in some circuits but it is a pleasure to fight with these two guys, who last year were at a super good level and were the title contenders.”

While Le Mans is a track Marquez has gone well at, the so called ‘difficult circuits’ for the eight-time world champion, like Qatar, have been less of an issue since jumping aboard a more competitive bike.

Marquez said: “About Le Mans, I feel comfortable and it is a good race track for me. I feel ok. It’s true that this year I checked and in race tracks where I was struggling a lot, this year I am more competitive.

“Here in Le Mans last year I was fighting with Jorge until the last two laps. Let’s see if this year we can start in a good way.

“The Jerez test was super positive and I kept learning a few things. The adaptation process is finished and now it is what it is.

“I need to find a way to be faster and closer to these two guys.” 

Marc Marquez secured his first-ever Ducati pole position, which was his 93 career pole, before leading the Spanish MotoGP sprint ahead of Jorge Martin.

Marquez initially lost the lead before overtaking Brad Binder and Martin on separate occasions at turn nine. 

But while turn nine proved to be his overtaking hotspot, Marquez then went down at the same corner after hitting a damp patch.

“Of course I’m disappointed,” said Marquez after the race. “Of course I want to learn about the mistakes. But every time I feel closer and closer and this gives me confidence. 

“We crashed one more time but not because of overriding. Just like most of the riders, I touched a wet patch and I lost the front. 

“It was super difficult to control all those things today. But the most positive thing was coming back and leading the race.

“And in turn nine I didn’t realise there was a wet patch. Then at the finish line I checked and there was only a 20cm patch to crash, but now is time to focus for tomorrow.”

Not wanting to think too much about championship position or the pressure of being a favourite, Marquez admits his plan, which is to feel better and better aboard the GP23, is coming along nicely.

Marquez said: “I don’t want to think much about the championship, this or that, crashing in the last race. I have a plan and the plan is going well. Of course I don’t want to crash, but the plan is going well.

“First of all, I try to find the consistency in one position and then I increase the risk and now I am fighting for the top positions but I haven’t found the consistency.

“Now I am looking for that consistency in that top position. But I need to try and if I don’t insist and stay there in fourth, fifth or sixth, then it would be easier to finish all the races. But the target is the future and I’m going well.”

Marquez, who was one of several big names to crash after hitting a wet patch, said it was very difficult to overtake as it resulted in riding over damp patches.

After jumping back aboard his Gresini machine, Marquez was then penalised for pushing Joan Mir wide at the final corner.

““It was super difficult to overtake today,” said Marquez. “He realised I was on the inside but he tried to keep the line on the inside.

“If you go outside then there are wet patches and you don’t want to go there. Then, when he came back I was not in front enough, I was a bit on the back and then we had contact.

“I got penalised one position for that which I completely agree with but as we saw all race, it was easy to have those contacts today.”

In terms of expectations for the grand prix on Sunday, Marquez is expecting several riders to challenge, while the medium tyre could be unpredictable.

Marquez added: “Let’s see in the long race because with that medium tyre it might change a bit the situation.

“Those medium tyres; in FP1 I had a good tyre but FP2 the tyre was a bit different. It will be super interesting to understand the grip and level of grip that we have in the race.

“Martin, Binder and then from the back maybe Vinales, Bagnaia and Acosta will arrive. It will be a good race.”

 

Taking the MotoGP race lead for the first time as a Gresini Ducati rider, at a track where he has won on seven previous occasions, Marc Marquez looked set for glory at COTA Sunday.

But just moments later he was sent sliding into the gravel when he lost the front of his 2023-spec Desmosedici.

With the accident went a golden opportunity to end a MotoGP win drought dating back to 2021.

But the Spanish star later revealed that not only was he riding with a ero parts missing from early contact with Jack Miller but had been battling a braking problem that meant he had to pump the lever to build pressure.

That braking issue eventually caused his accident, which has left him eighth in the world championship and 44-points behind leader Jack Miller.

Although he was left with zero Sunday points for the second event in a row, Marquez proved he had the speed to fight for victory even with the technical issues.

And not only did he once again eclipse the other GP23 riders, but was on course to beat the factory-spec GP24s. 

 

On the latest edition of the Crash.net MotoGP podcast, two-wheel reporter Robert Jones said:

“This was a big opportunity for Marquez this weekend. I think we all expected him to grab a race win at some point, in the Sprint or the Grand Prix.

“He’d just taken the lead and it looked like he was going to try and see if he could escape. He obviously had the braking issues, so to try and get some cool air on the front tyre was just as big as taking the race lead.

“But then came what was a heavy front-end fall. It was very disappointing for Marquez. It was still his best weekend in terms of pace on the Ducati but he probably expected that at COTA.

“It’s hard to say it was a big missed opportunity because it wasn’t his fault, there were braking issues, but it has dropped him further down in the championship. 44 points is a big deficit already. So he’ll be disappointed not to have at least been on the podium.”

“I think it’s in some ways similar to Vinales’ gearbox problem in Portimao [which he struggled with during the race and finally denied him a podium],” added Crash.net MotoGP editor Peter McLaren

“Vinales insisted after Portimao, ‘I’m happy. I walked away with nothing, but I was fast and I know why it happened. Let’s get to the next race’.

“It’s a bit like that with Marc. He knows why he went down, the issue with the brakes. Let’s not forget he was also missing a wing pod from the earlier contact. 

“So he had damage to the aero, the brakes weren’t working normally, and he was still miles ahead of the rest of the GP23s – again – and he was up there fighting for victory.

“It’s going to ‘hurt’, falling from the lead at one of his best tracks but the speed was there… We’ll never know what might have happened between him and Maverick if he had stayed on. But it’s certainly not guaranteed that Marquez would have won.

“That’s maybe a slight consolation for Marquez. Because looking at the speed of Vinales at the end of the race, he might feel that ‘Maverick would have got me anyway’.

“Marquez said he wanted a podium before the weekend, he got one in the Sprint and was quick enough for another in the Grand Prix and potentially top Ducati. 

“For only his third weekend on the bike, you can say it was a missed opportunity, but there were a lot of positives as well.”

Social media editor and podcast host Jordan Moreland said: “Yes, he lost a lot of points, but I think he’d rather crash out of the lead knowing he’s quick [than finish further down].

“His day will come. From his comments afterwards, there was some optimism. He knows there was a [brake] issue, he was trying his best to deal with that, but you can’t always pull off miracles.

“I think Marc Marquez was great this weekend. Like you mentioned Pete, it’s only his third race weekend on a Ducati and to be so far clear of the other GP23s – I think he’s going to be a factor in many races this season.”

Speaking at Saturday night’s Gresini Ducati team presentation, the eight-time world champion – who negotiated an early exit from the final year of his big money HRC deal after two winless seasons – maintained “I hope our futures will cross again”.

“Of course, it was a super difficult decision, for that reason it took me a long time, until after Motegi,” Marquez said.

“But on the other side my ambition is the same as 2013. If I’m here, it’s because I feel I have the chance or level to fight for the top 5 positions.

“I cannot say fight for championship, because you need extra in many areas, but still I feel I can fight for top 5-6 positions.

“So I chose that [Gresini Ducati] direction to prolong my career. Only this. The easy way was to stay in Honda. Less pressure, more money in my bank. But it’s not the target.

“I’m very thankful to Honda and I said at the Honda Thanks Day and I’ll say again, that I hope our futures will cross again.

“But it’s not only my decision.

“I need to fast on the race track, to open more doors in future. If I am fast on the racetrack then I will be in a better position to choose my future.”

Marquez has signed only a one year deal with Gresini, where he will race alongside younger brother Alex this season.

Meanwhile, after failing to get on top of the RC213V’s deficiencies for several seasons, the 2024 Honda prototype was greeted as a real step forward by Marquez’s former team-mate Joan Mir at the Valencia test.

Marquez, Honda’s most successful grand prix rider in history with 59 wins, insisted he never doubted the factory will return to the top, but the big question mark is how long it will take.

“The biggest doubt if it’s going to happen in a month, two years or one year,” Marquez said. “This was also the risk from the point of view of my career. I thought the best choice was to do this [join Gresini Ducati].

“But Honda is Honda. HRC will definitely deliver and have big results [eventually], but the biggest change they did [so far] is changing project leader.”

Luca Marini will take over Marquez’s seat at Repsol Honda and work with the Spanish star’s former crew headed by Santi Hernandez.

The eight-time world champion admitted he felt ‘comfortable’ from his first run on the Desmosedici, but also cautioned that he is yet to test the limits of the bike.

“In Valencia I was riding very smooth but still we don’t know if that will be my riding style with Ducati,” said Marquez, who was a close fourth quickest at the test, during Saturday night’s Gresini team launch.

“It was the first test, I told them to just put the set-up of the others and not touch anything. Just I need to adapt.

“They touched some very small things to give me more confidence with the front, but I was riding smooth because I didn’t feel ready to ride aggressive and find the limit of the bike.

“I’m curious to try the bike in circuits like Malaysia and Qatar where I struggled a lot every year. Because Valencia normally I’m very fast every year.

But it was a good way to start.

“In Valencia, the lap time arrived because I felt comfortable with the bike from the first run.

“But also I was calm because I had only one bike in the garage. I mean I was used to having four [Honda] bikes at the Valencia test! I had only one and they said to me, ‘if you crash, you finish the test’.

“So I was calm, working step by step and feeling the bike. But I’m curious to see how I feel in Malaysia.”

While Marquez famously made up time on the brakes at Honda, the Ducati’s natural strength is on corner exit.

“It’s a different way to approach the lap, and the lap time,” Marquez said. “When you want to push, still I need to understand that point. But way to approach the corners is completely different.

“Of course, I need to say that Honda also has very strong points in some parts of the corner. But you cannot use the strong points that I was used to.

“Especially the exit of the corner was really good, really smooth [on the Ducati]. But still I need to learn the way to use more the extra power and extra grip we have.”

And no matter how good the bike is, Marquez – who fell a record 29 times last season – is adamant he will still need to take risks to succeed.

“You have to risk to find the limit, this is my style and I will keep doing this.

“The Ducati riders also fell a lot last season. So a bike has a limit. And you have to risk to go faster than the others.

“At the beginning I will try to go slow but I’m sure I’ll have the first crash in Malaysia or Qatar. I’d prefer in the tests than a race!”

The official Sepang test takes place from February 6-8, followed by the Qatar test on February 19-20. Marquez’s Ducati race debut will then take place at the same Lusail circuit on the weekend of March 8-10.

The launch ceremony, being held at the Cocoricò disco in Riccione, Italy, starts at 17:00 CET.

Gresini’s MotoE and Moto2 teams will be first on stage, at 17:30, before the Marquez brothers take over the limelight at 18:30.

Gresini has raced in a distinctive light blue and red livery for the last two seasons, without a title sponsor.

But will that change with the arrival of eight-time world champion Marquez? Watch below to find out…

After enduring a two-year winless streak, Marc Marquez sensationally walked out of the final year of a big-money Repsol Honda contract to join Gresini and ride a title-winning Ducati this season.

The 59-time premier-class race winner, who like brother Alex will race 2023 Desmosedici machinery, has signed a one-year deal with the satellite team, which has won five races in the past two seasons courtesy of former riders Enea Bastianini (4) and Fabio di Giannantonio (1).

Arriving at Gresini last year, Alex took two Sprint wins, two podiums and a pole on his way to a career-best ninth in the world championship.

Like Marc, who was fourth quickest on his Ducati debut at the Valencia test, Alex will set his sights on victory after several potential chances in 2023, including finishing runner-up by just 1.5s to Bastianini at Sepang.

Nonetheless, having been a competitive fourth fastest during his Ducati debut at November’s Valencia test, Marquez is now the bookmakers’ favourite for the 2024 title, ahead of reigning double champion Bagnaia and runner-up Martin.

Speaking at Saturday night’s team launch in Riccione, where Gresini became the first team to unveil its 2024 livery, former Repsol Honda star Marquez said:

“My approach is to try to be fast on the racetrack and if I can be one-tenth faster I will try to do it. But it’s also about expectations vs reality.

“Of course, expectations are super high from the people. But my job is to try to forget about all the expectations and work in my garage because I need to be calm. Especially at the beginning.

“Calm doesn’t mean not being fast. Of course, I will try and would like to be fast, but I cannot pretend to fight for victory from the beginning because the last four years were a nightmare for me.

“In the last two years, I wasn’t able to win a race and now I arrive to a bike that especially two riders, Bagnaia and Martin, have spent many years on and won many races and championships.

“So they are super-fast and they will have the 2024 bike – the same bike [as me], we can say – but when you arrive you cannot pretend to be on the same level [as them].

“Or it will not be the normal thing to be on the same level with them [straight away]…”

Marquez, whose MotoGP career has been anything but normal with six titles and 59 victories for Honda, will race a GP23 spec Ducati alongside brother Alex this season.

Bagnaia and Martin will be among those with access to the latest 2024 version.

The duo’s racing colours were presented during a team launch at the Cocoricò disco in Riccione, Italy, on Saturday night, not far from the scene of Marc’s most recent MotoGP victory at Misano in 2021.

The latest livery is a continuation of the same light blue and red colours used by Gresini for the last two seasons, during which they have won five race wins with former riders Enea Bastianini (4 in 2022) and Fabio di Giannantonio (1 in 2023).

Despite Marc Marquez’s presence, there is still no title sponsor (or any Red Bull team branding, only a continuation of personal sponsorship deals). Alex has a blue #73 on the front of his bike, with Marc’s famous #93 in red.

The Marquez brothers, like VR46 riders Marco Bezzecchi and Fabio di Giannantonio, will race year-old GP23 machines, while world champion Francesco Bagnaia, factory team-mate Bastianini and Pramac riders Jorge Martin and Franco Morbidelli get the latest GP24.

Without a race victory since September 2021, Marc Marquez finally lost patience with Honda during another punishing year in which he suffered a record 29 falls and, although the top RCV in the standings (14th), achieved just a single rostrum.

Alex’s instant jump in form after joining Gresini last season and familiarity with the team environment surely played a big part in Marc’s shock decision and much has been made of the smile on the 30-year-old’s face after his first Desmosedici laps at Valencia last November.

The #93 finished a close fourth fastest at the test and is already the bookies’ favourite for the 2024 title, although he insists it’s pointless to think of such an historic achievement until he is winning races again.

“Of course, it’s a new chapter, especially in my career. The project is exciting and motivation is super high, but I also feel especially calm,” Marquez has said of his new challenge.

“I made a very important decision. I chose a way and we will see if it’s the good one or not in the future, but the project is to try to find again that motivation and that racing spirit in the races, and fight for a good position.”

“I’m like a child with new shoes, as we say in Spain!” Marquez said at the launch. “I won a lot but the last 3-4 years have been hard for me. Having fun again on the bike [was my priority] and Gresini was the only one that waited for me.

“Let’s have an amazing year, but ‘if you eat too fast, you don’t feel well’… The expectation is high but I know I have to work tirelessly to do what we can do.”

2024 will be Alex’s fifth year in the premier class, having made his debut alongside Marc at Repsol Honda in 2020, when his brother was sidelined after the Jerez openers due to the arm injury that would dog his career until mid-2022.

This time around it is Marc joining Alex’s team, with the #73 switching to Gresini last year after two miserable seasons at LCR.

The 27-year-old celebrated two Sprint wins, two Grand Prix podiums and a pole position on his way to ninth in the standings on the Desmosedici, despite missing India, Japan and Indonesia due to rib fractures.

“I know what Marc’s been through since 2020. I knew what he needed. I talked to him as a brother and then he chose [Gresini],” Alex said at the launch. “It’s a dream for me to be team-mates again.”

“This is a historic disco where I used to come when I was 20 years old to dance!” said Nadia Padovani, Gresini Racing team owner and wife of the late Fausto Gresini, of the launch location.

“An independent team with an eight-time champion and ten world championships between both our riders is crazy! We would never have imagined!

“We had contact [with Marc] but clearly he had a contract with Honda, so we couldn’t take it for granted. We waited until October and finally got the result we wanted.

“We can’t wait to be on track and see how far we can go this year.”

The Marquez brothers will take to the track in their 2024 livery during the official Sepang test from February 6-8, Marc having used a black and red test livery at Valencia last November.

Gresini is the first MotoGP team to present its 2024 livery. Ducati Lenovo, VR46 Ducati and Trackhouse Aprilia will hold their team launches over the coming week.

Did Ducati’s already stellar line-up of MotoGP teams need an eight-time world champion to take them to the next level? No. But did that stop Gresini from going big in the rider market? That would also be, no. 

Marc Marquez was signed in place of Fabio Di Giannantonio, and Padovani has since admitted that some members of Ducati management feared it would cause tension.

Speaking to Corriere della Sera, Padovani said: “There were those who were afraid of creating a climate of tension with the riders of the official team, but in reality there were conflicting visions inside. 

“I believe that it will be a source of pride for them too to have an eight-time world champion on a Ducati.

“It seemed impossible that an eight-time world champion could leave Honda for a private team, it made headlines and will do so again.”

“It also seemed like a dream to have Marc. Only when I saw him riding in the test in Valencia did I say: “So it’s true”. And even now it seems unreal to me, but he is with us…

Padovani, who now has an all-Marquez line-up at her Ducati team, said the approach to sign Marc came from his side of management, not the team’s.

“We would never have gone looking for him, his manager contacted us but he had an agreement with Honda until 2024,” she said. 

“The obstacles were not few. I said to my parents: “Let’s try to wait for him”. I absolutely wanted him in the hope that all the planets would align. I believed in it until the end, and it happened.”

2024 will be the first season for Marquez in which he’s not a Honda rider but also a factory rider.

Still, the expectation is that he can win races and even mount a title challenge, not only because of his ability, but also because Gresini have shown they can consistently win races despite being a satellite team. 

Asked if it was a fluke that Marquez chose Gresini, Padovani quickly shut that notion down, saying: “No, we are professional: and the results obtained with other riders in recent years speak for us. Otherwise he wouldn’t have come. 

“Of course, the fact that his brother Alex was already with us also had an impact. From the GPs [Alex] came home with a smile and told [stories]…

“Marc will stay with us for at least a year, then we’ll see. We already know Alex, he is “our boy” and we get along very well with him, we will manage them as best we can.”

Marquez ‘humble, different character from Alex’

While brothers, Marc and Alex are quite different riders and personalities, but Padovani admitted she was very pleased with the type of person Marquez was, calling him a ‘rock.

“Humble, calm, lovable, determined,” began Padovani. “It seems to me that he has a different character from Alex who is sweet and sensitive. It seems to me to be more “rock”.

Gresini will be the first of five teams to officially remove the covers from their 2024 MotoGP machine. 

Following Gresini, the official Lenovo Ducati team will present their GP24 bike on January 22, alongside the Aruba.it Ducati WorldSBK team. 

Making it three Ducati teams in a row, the newly-branded Pertamina Enduro VR46 Team will unveil their colours on the 24th of January.

Another two days later will be the turn of Trackhouse Racing Aprilia, before GASGAS Tech 3 KTM finishes off the January unveilings on the 29th.

Kicking things off in February will be the Monster Energy Yamaha team on the 5th, which is between the Sepang Shakedown and official MotoGP test. 

A week later and the factory KTM team will release images of their new RC16, before both Honda teams and the factory Aprilia squad showcase their 2024 bikes during the same week.

Finally, it will be the turn of Pramac Ducati, who will unveil their bike on the penultimate day of the month in February (28th). 

Every team will have unveiled their new bike for the second official MotoGP test in Qatar, except Pramac. 

The two tests take place on February 6-8 (Sepang) and the 19-20 (Lusial), before riders head back to Qatar for the season-opner on March 10.

Team Presentation dates

January 20 – Gresini Ducati

January 22 – Lenovo Ducati

January 24 – Pertamina Enduro VR46

January 26 – Trackhouse Racing Aprilia 

January 29 – GASGAS Tech 3 KTM

February 5 – Monster Energy Yamaha 

February 12 – Red Bull Factory KTM

February 13 – Repsol Honda

February 15 – LCR Honda

February 18 – Aprilia Racing

February 28 – Pramac Ducati