MotoGP | Padovani confident: “With Marc we will fight for the World Championship”

There are just over two months left until the start of the 2024 MotoGP World Championship, but at Gresini Racing we cannot help but look forward to the Qatar Grand Prix with great enthusiasm and confidence. In 2022 he took the top step of the podium in his first season thanks to Enea Bastianini's first success in the premier class, which was followed by three more in the same championship. Last year, however, Lusail was the scene of the penultimate round and this time the first victory came from Fabio Di Giannantonio.

After two triumphs like this one cannot help but dream big, especially because all eyes will be focused, or almost all, on the garage of the Faenza team, given that the Qatari one will be the first race astride a Marc Marquez Ducati. And it must be said that Nadia Padovani, widow of the unforgettable Fausto Gresini, who took over the reins of the team, does not seem willing to hide according to what she said in an interview given to Gazzetta dello Sport: “There's no two without three ! No, come on, let's tread carefully. But…”, he joked.

The first contact, which took place immediately after the end of the championship in Valencia, was positive, because the Spaniard was immediately fast aboard the Desmosedici GP, while also showing a certain emotion that perhaps Nadia would not have expected from an eight-time world champion like him.

“He introduced himself to the team in a calm and humble way. You expect who knows what from someone who has won a lot, but it was the opposite. In fact, he was even a little agitated, anxious to get on his bike for the first time new bike. I believe that this type of nervousness is common to all riders at the start of an adventure.”

However, she too was struck by that “joker” smile that Marquez made at the end of his first run: “I was in the pits waiting for him to take off his helmet after the first ride, I wanted to see the first expression when getting off the bike. I I saw that little smile on his face and I said to myself: 'Ok, here we go'.”

Marc could not yet speak to the media, being under contract with Honda until December 31st, but he had already given his feedback to the team: “He was very happy, he had also preferred to stop an hour early so as not to risk it, having only one bike available. But he told me that what he had done was enough for him to already understand a few things.”

Indeed, even before getting on the Ducati, he had joked with his new team, saying that they would win the World Championship: “I didn't know he said it, but it's clear that he wants to get back into the game after all these difficult years due to the brake problem. arm and a return with a difficult bike that no longer allowed him certain results and with which he crashed a lot. However, he never gave up on pushing to do his best.”

Even Padovani, however, does not hide that the objective is at least to try to get into the fight for the title with Marc: “I don't know about winning, but fighting for the World Championship yes, I expect it from someone like him. It's clear that Bagnaia is a very strong rider, he has a lot of control over the bike and has grown a lot in recent years. Martin is another at that level and rides the Ducati in a spectacular way. Bezzecchi is growing well and quickly. So I would say that it won't be so obvious the fact of winning the World Cup, but we will try.”

But he also assures that, even if he is certainly a cumbersome character, Marc's arrival will not create extra pressure on Gresini Racing: “No. Simply, we will try to give even more, for us it will be a way to grow further, but not there is more pressure. We have always worked well, the men in the team are all great professionals. Today we are at the official level.”

Marc's contract is only for one year, a challenge he accepted to get back into the game, also because it is assumed that the official teams will then look for him: “I always become very fond of the riders, I always try to give them the best. He will certainly aspire to an official team, but there is time to see what will happen.”