A solid performance
“They are not Bastianini and Di Giannantonio, they don't have my past behind them and the curriculum in the present counts for nothing”. Marc Marquez on the eve of the Qatar Grand Prix, on his debut with Ducati in MotoGP, he underlined that the sensational 'historic' of the Gresini team on the Lusail track would have meant nothing.
Nadia Padovani's team, in fact, won in 2022 with Enea Bastianini and in 2023 with Fabio Di Giannantonio, two truly applause-worthy successes which have not been replicated by Marc Marquez in this 2024 who won Francesco Bagnaia in the Sunday Grand Prix.
Marquez however underlined his satisfaction at having obtained a fourth place on his debut on the Ducati in a weekend in which he never crashed. The marketing and communications director of the Gresini team, Carlo Merliniunderlined that fourth place in Qatar is not a missed podium: “Qatar was a great first GP for Marc in our team – his words reported by today's edition of the Spanish sports newspaper AS – I think he did his best in his approach to the team and the bike and did everything possible to be close to the podium at the end of the race, but he saw that this time he was not up to the top-3 and finished fourth . You have to understand that we were on a track that is not his favourite, but he managed to quickly reach the top positions and finish very close to the podium in his first race with this bike. In the tests he didn't know exactly where he was, but now he knows for sure that he can stay in front, be part of the leading group and I think we'll have a lot of fun with him judging by the smile with which he returned to the pits. There are fourth places that leave a bad taste in the mouth, but this initial fourth place for Marc has the flavor of a solid performance.”
#Merlini #Gresini #Marquez39s #smile #happy
