“It’s all true”, this is how the Gresini team’s statement about the 2023 ‘boom’ begins. The non-news news has occurred. The former world champion’s team Fausto Gresiniunfortunately now gone and now run by his widow Nadia Padovanijust announced, at Mandalika circuitwhere this weekend the Indonesian Grand Prixthe first of the Asian triplet in a row (Indonesia, Australia and Thailand)that the Catalan Marc Márquez30 years old, the true king of MotoGP in recent decadeswill run, next season, for now only next season, with one of its Ducati ‘Desmosedici”’.
Marc Márquez: five reasons to stay and five to leave Honda
It is evident that Márquez, who in two hours will participate in one of the press conferences in Indonesia, has been extremely satisfied with the opportunity that the Italian team has given him. “I am excited about this new challenge,” comments the Catalan in the official statement. appeared this Thursday. “It was not an easy decision to make because it is a big change in every way. But sometimes in life it is important to get out of your comfort zone and push yourself to continue growing. As for the possibilities of my new bike, I know that I will have to adapt my riding style to some things and it will not be easy either, but I am sure that the entire Gresini team will help me in that task. I’m looking forward to meeting my new team and starting to work with them. I thank Nadia Padovani and her entire team for the trust and respect they have shown me.”
“It was not an easy decision, because it is a big change. But sometimes, in life, it is important to get out of the comfort zone and strive to continue growing”
Padovani, widow of Fausto Gresini, has also shown her joy at the agreement. “It is a historic moment for the Gresini family. The fact that Marc Márquez has chosen to race with us next season is absolutely fantastic and I am very happy to be able to announce it. We already had Àlex and, now, we will give the same welcome to Marc, since we are sure that he has all the potential to be competitive with the Ducati GP23 from the beginning. Last but not least, I would like to thank Fabio Di Giannantonio for his professionalism and we wish him all the best for the continuation of his career.”
Shortly after it was announced that Honda and Márquez had reached a friendly agreement to terminate the remaining year of the Catalan driver’s contract, of the four he signed at the time, so that the Cervera driver (Lleia) would be free and could race, next season, in the team and with the bike he wanted, everyone assumed, as had been rumored in recent months, that he would be his brother’s partner in 2024. When in a On that occasion they asked Àlex if that possibility existed, the ‘very brother’ joked saying “You journalists shoot a lot of three-pointers and some will go in, of course”.
A winning bike
The truth is that Àlex’s intervention has been vital in this entire operation. It has already been said that the fact that the two-time Catalan champion signed for Gresini and went on to compete with the fabulous Ducati, with which he has been ahead and even won a race at ‘sprint’ en Silverstone (Inglaterra)could cause his brother Marc to begin to consider the possibility of breaking with Honda, whose motorcycle is already outdated and barely competitive, to embrace a ‘Desmosedici’.
Not long ago, even the head of the Ducati Corse team, engineer Gigi Dall’Igna, the signing escaped him, or not, when he recognized “the pride that an eight-time world champion, we already know who Marc is!, signed for our brand to race in 2024.” Immediately, Dall’Igna tried to qualify his statements by saying that “it is what they say”, but everyone already had confirmation of the signing of the year. Of course, the MotoGP guru said that “Marc is, for many reasons, a difficult rider to handle and, in that sense, there is concern that he could somehow break the balance that exists within all Ducati teams.”
The departure from Honda and the arrival at Ducati, whose motorcycle the eight-time world champion will be able to test, in Cheste (Valencia), two days after finishing the World Championship, on November 28, of Marc Márquez is produced, fundamentally, by the express desire of the Catalan driver to test himself and find out if he really is still a winning driver and, therefore, can aspire, as is his wish, to surpass the nine world titles held by his greatest rival, the Italian Valentino Rossiwho raced for two years with Ducati (2011 and 2012) without being able to win a single race.
The eldest of the Márquez arrives at Ducati, but he does so within the fourth team considered by the Borgo Panigale factory, which has its official ‘team’, with the champion ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia y Enea Bastianini; the Prima Pramac, with Jorge Martinwho aspires to be world champion this year, and Johann Zarco and Rossi’s VR46, with Marco Bezzecchi y Luca Marinithe ‘Doctor’s’ stepbrother.
Preparing for 2025
No one, no one in the MotoGP paddock, doubts that, even if it is with this year’s Ducati (2023), it is evident that the Ducati leaders are hardly going to allow Gresini to own two official ‘Desmosedici’ from 2024. , Márquez can put up a battle in each grand prix against the powerful Ducati, the fast Aprilia, Aleix Espargaró y Maverick Vinalesand the new KTM, with a carbon chassis, Brad Binder y Jack Miller.
It is evident that Marc Márquez’s decision, which will have a profound impact on next season’s MotoGP World Championship, aims not only to test himself, but also to recover from four bad years in which, due to injuries, operations and the Honda’s own technological crisis, has not been able to fight to win its ninth title. Márquez wants to win again to have the possibility, at the end of next season, of choosing a team and bike for 2025, when the contracts of all the stars on the MotoGP grid end.
2023-10-12 07:47:14
#announcing #leaving #Honda #Marc #Márquez #race #Ducati
