The announcement of Marc Marquez’s move to the official Ducati team continues to cause discussion, as it will certainly do for the rest of the 2024 season until we see him astride the Desmosedici GP25 in the Valencia tests, as the biggest news in the MotoGP of last times.
After beating Jorge Martin in the race for that place after everything that happened at Mugello, the eight-time world champion will complete his current period at Gresini Racing as a transition year to enter the factory structure of the Borgo Panigale company, which was his main goal. He will team up with Pecco Bagnaia in what will be the “strongest duo” in the history of the Italian manufacturer, according to the general director of the racing department, Gigi Dall’Igna.
Many speculate that Marquez, with a Ducati from the same year as the reigning world champion, will be able to fight for his ninth world championship with even more guarantees than this 2023. But others believe that Bagnaia will be a force to be reckoned with, and this is Jorge Lorenzo’s opinion.
The former Spanish rider, who knows Ducati and was Marquez’s teammate at Honda, thinks that the multiple champion from Cervera is “a bit at the limit” of his level compared to the Turin rider, which could lead Pecco to win more races than expected.
“Marquez will be 32 years old, he is Marc Marquez and he has suffered a major injury. The theory says that he is a bit at the limit”, Lorenzo began on DAZN’s “Open Paddock” programme, where he analyzed the big market coup. “And, theoretically, the best thing he can do is stay at his current level. But with 25- or 26-year-olds, the theory is that they have to get better every year, and that’s the only thing that works against him, I think , and that makes things a little more balanced.”
Jorge Lorenzo
“The Pecco Bagnaia of 2019, against the Marc Márquez of 2019, it was clear that Marc was three steps above. Now, with the same bike, I’m not sure if Marc will beat Pecco in every race”, continued the Majorcan bluntly.
There has been a lot of talk about how the arrival of #93 could affect the internal atmosphere at Ducati, something some had warned about as early as 2023, before the move announced last week saw Martin’s departure to Aprilia and by Enea Bastianini towards KTM. Bagnaia himself commented at Mugello that all he had asked of his bosses was that the chosen driver should not disturb the “harmony” that has been created in his garage.
Lorenzo believes that this only means that the Piedmontese rider does not want the Spaniard as a teammate: “Pecco Bagnaia is clearly saying that he doesn’t want the atmosphere in the garage to be affected. Translated? I don’t want a rider like Marc, I don’t want a rider fast, I don’t want a rider who can beat me. This doesn’t mean that Enea Bastianini can’t do it. But, in terms of sensations, who is more scary at the moment, Bastianini or Marc Márquez? Obviously Márquez.
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