At the MotoGP event in Austin, Ducati could break a ten-year-old Honda record, ironically with the help of newcomer Marc Marquez
In the last MotoGP season, Ducati set a new record in the premier class with a total of 17 Grand Prix victories. Never before had a manufacturer achieved so many victories in a single season. But in terms of the most consecutive victories, Ducati still plays second fiddle.
Honda has been ahead in this statistic since 2014. Back then, in one of Marc Marquez’s most dominant MotoGP seasons, the Japanese manufacturer won twelve consecutive Grands Prix, eleven of them by the Spaniard alone.
He began the year with ten consecutive victories in Qatar, Austin, Argentina, Spain, France, Italy, Catalonia, the Netherlands, Germany and Indianapolis. He then finished fourth in Brno, while his Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa won. Marquez then took over again at Silverstone.
It was not until the San Marino Grand Prix that the Honda series was broken – with a victory for Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi. Nevertheless, no other MotoGP manufacturer has been able to break the record of twelve consecutive victories to date
Ducati unbeaten since San Marino 2023
There is a high probability that this will change in Austin. Ducati is currently just one win behind and could at least equal the Honda record this weekend.
Since the 2023 San Marino Grand Prix, Ducati has won every Sunday race in the MotoGP – including the two previous events of the 2024 season in Qatar and Portugal. Six riders have contributed to this streak.
Jorge Martin won four races (Misano, Motegi and Buriram 2023 and Portimao 2024), Francesco Bagnaia three (Mandalika and Valencia 2023 and Losail 2024), Marco Bezzecchi (India 2023), Johann Zarco (Australia 2023), Enea Bastianini (Malaysia 2023) and Fabio Di Giannantonio (Qatar 2023) one race each.
Ducati therefore has a great chance of clinching its twelfth consecutive victory in Austin. However, the Italian manufacturer has only triumphed once at the Circuit of the Americas to date, with Bastianini in 2022.
Can Marquez of all people equal the record?
On the other hand, Ducati has had Marc Marquez, the great dominator of this circuit, on board since this season. The Spaniard, who switched from Honda to Gresini-Ducati at the end of 2023, won every race in Austin between 2013 and 2021 with one exception. In 2019, he crashed while leading and Alex Rins won the race
Against this backdrop, Marquez is also one of the favourites for this year’s Grand Prix of the Americas. On the Ducati, he of all people could take up the legacy that he himself left behind at Honda, albeit not as an official Ducati factory rider, but as part of the Gresini satellite team.