The Catalan Grand Prix could open up interesting scenarios from a 2025 perspective, with a driver market that is quivering. There are many rumors chasing each other, many suppositions. However, if one thing is certain, it is that the top three in the championship are focused on doing their best in the Catalan weekend: among these is Marc Marquez, at the center of the market and also under the spotlight for his first home race as a Ducati rider . Barcelona is not the best track for the driver from Cervera, who dashed his hopes even before arriving at Montmelo. However, the Gresini standard bearer is in third place in the general classification, 40 points behind leader Jorge Martin and just two points behind Pecco Bagnaia, the big favorites of the season.
The Le Mans race showed that Marquez is still ready to have fun and fight with the leading riders, but he supposes that Barcelona will tell a slightly different story: “The consistency of the two riders in front of me is lacking (in the championship, ed). They are faster in practice, in qualifying. They are always in the top three or five positions. Obviously I’m fast, I feel competitive, I was close in Jerez and Le Mans. But I have to find consistency. It will be an important challenge at Montmeló, because it is one of my worst tracks, but we will look for ways to be fast and compete with the leading riders.”
“The goal is to be fast on the track and be close to the top two,” explained the eight-time world champion during the press conference in Barcelona. “As I already said, I’m happy to see that I fight with them until the last corner. They are the two contenders for the 2023 title, the two strongest rivals. I will continue to work with what I have to do my best. Barcelona isn’t the best, one of my strong points is braking and this is not a stop&go track, but a fluid one. But I’m still the best of the Honda riders. I can’t wait to understand how Ducati will work here. We need to understand or change the setup or maybe change my riding style to be close to the top and we will also have the others’ data to compare.”
Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing
Photo by: Marc Fleury
The weekend in Barcelona arrives a week before Mugello, a key appointment for Ducati from a market perspective. On the Tuscan track, in fact, a decision should be made about 2025. Competing for the official saddle are Martin, Marquez and Enea Bastianini… But the multiple champion has no intention of falling behind: “My situation is different from last year. This year I was trying to have fun and find the feeling again. Little by little I’m getting back to a good level, this is very important.”
“I’m very happy to fight with these riders (Bagnaia and Martin, ed.). But, obviously, if you want to fight for the championship, you can do it this year too. If it can make life on the track easier, that helps… Every driver seeks the best. I know what my first idea is, I’m smart. I have been one in the past, I was one last year and I will be one for next year. I know what I need to be fast, if I can do a great job on the track I will have more options for the future. Now the European brands are at an excellent level and Ducati is the best or at least the one with the most potential on every track, which is why I chose it last year. I was looking for the best bike and that’s still the case. But obviously Aprilia and KTM are getting closer and closer, in particular Aprilia has shown that it can win races and Aleix also won at Montmelo last year,” continued Marquez.
There was no shortage of emotion in Barcelona, with the special conference called by Aleix Espargaro in which he announced his retirement. Now the Catalan “frees up” a saddle, which becomes attractive to many, even to potential transitions from Moto2: “For me it’s complicated for the teams, because it seems that in recent years the rider makes the difference, but it depends a lot on the bike. It seems like the level is very balanced. If you look at the times, many riders deserve MotoGP. But in the end they arrive from Moto2 pushing. It’s difficult to have a career as long as Aleix’s. It’s not as difficult to arrive as it is to stay and keep the level high. But that’s life, this time it was Aleix who chose. Sometimes you can’t choose, you have no other option. This is another important thing. He chose that he is better off at home”.
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