After just one year with Gresini on the Ducati, Marc Marquez has managed to sign for the official team of the Reds, which will provide him with the most advanced bike of the Italian manufacturer and therefore the weapon to fight on equal terms with his rivals.
The rider from Cervera thus arrives at the reference team, Ducati, where he will share the garage with Pecco Bagnaia, currently leading the championship and looking for his third consecutive world championship in the premier class.
When asked in an interview with DAZN how Pecco would have felt about being his teammate, Marquez put himself in his shoes and said: “I think it would have been nice. If I were him, I think I would take it as a challenge. The rider who has the most world titles on this grid, I will have the same bike as him and I will show people that I can beat him. If I were Pecco, I would take it like that, but you have to ask him how he took it.”
During negotiations with Ducati for a place on the team, Marquez was said to have also considered a move to KTM or even Aprilia. Now that everything has been signed, he admits that it was a possibility, but certainly not the main option: “It was an approach that was option C, the third, not even the second, but yes, why not? There are two other brands, both European, that are doing well, they have a working method, they have grown in recent years and they are winning races. So yes, it was a real and effective option.”
Marquez believes that Ducati was not afraid of losing him, because the other option, Jorge Martin, was also very good: “I don’t think so. If I were in Ducati, I wouldn’t be afraid of another brand, not even with another rider. Now they have one of the fastest riders on the grid, or the fastest, which is Pecco, but there are always two or three who are among the fastest. I wouldn’t be afraid of another rider leaving, because if it wasn’t me it would be Martin, who is going very fast”.
“For me, the answer they gave me was always direct and rigorous: ‘Seeing your progression in these first six races with the 2023 bike, we are very happy and we think you can do very well with the factory bike’. I accepted, we discussed the conditions, I was satisfied, happy, and when I feel satisfied and competitive, there is no need to look elsewhere,” he concluded.
#MotoGP #Marquez #Pecco #arrival #Ducati #challenge
