Lorenzo on Marquez-Ducati: “Apologies over, but I don’t know if he will beat Bagnaia”

The marriage between Marquez and Ducati

The decision of Ducati to let Jorge Martin go to Aprilia and Enea Bastianini to KTM, just to bring Marc Marquez in the official team, has clearly turned the fans’ spotlight on MotoGP. Many have wondered how much they have influenced marketing reasons behind the move to pair Marquez with Bagnaia.
These reasonings, however, are simplistic, given that we are not talking about just any rider but about a 6-time MotoGP world champion, currently third in the world championship and by far the best among those riding a GP23.

Lorenzo’s opinion

“I think the results were fundamental. I believe that if Jorge Martin had won almost all the races, he would have been announced in the official team“, has explained Jorge Lorenzo in his speech to Dazn Spain, adding: “Martin is still first in the world championship, but Marc – driving a GP23 – is the only one to be close to the GP24s. And it’s Marc Marquez. So Domenicali, considering the pressure that Marc put on him, preferred to secure Marquez rather than Martin, it’s very simple.”

Lorenzo then discussed the topic of marketing: “As soon as Marc returned to fighting for victories, the MotoGP crowd increased, also thanks to the arrival of Pedro Acosta. I’m not saying that popularity is at the levels of Valentino Rossi’s good times, but it’s true Marquez is by far the most media-focused rider“. The Majorcan then concluded: “Ducati sees that he is 32 years old and has between 2 and 4 years of career ahead of him and can retire as a factory team rider. In any case, there will be no more excuses for Marquez and I’m not sure that Marc will beat Bagnaia at every race.”