One mechanic is going with him, but the crew chief is not: Marc Marquez explains why he wants to adapt to new faces in the switch from Honda to Gresini-Ducati
Purely in terms of sporting implications, Marc Marquez’s confirmed move from the Honda factory team to the Ducati customer team Gresini for the 2024 MotoGP season is already making waves. Cal Crutchlow, for example, said on the occasion of the announcement of Marquez’s Honda departure: “If Marc switches to a Ducati, then the rest of the field can actually just stay at home. ”
Personally, however, Marquez’s team change does not entail as much as one might think. Because the eight-time motorbike world champion is not only parting ways with Honda at the end of the 2023 season after 11 years. He is also parting ways with crew chief Santi Hernandez after 13 years.
At Gresini-Ducati, Marquez will work with Fabio Di Giannantonio’s current crew chief Francesco “Frankie” Carchedi in 2024. This was confirmed by Gresini sporting director Michele Masini on the Dorna Sports TV broadcast at the recent MotoGP weekend in India. “Yes, I can confirm that ‘Frankie’ Carchedi will be the crew chief for [Marquez] next year,” Masini said.
“It’s going to be strange for me, but I knew that when I signed,” Marquez remarks, coming to talk about his long-time crew chief Santi Hernandez: “Santi and I, we worked together for 13 consecutive years. So it will be a really strange feeling, but I accept this situation. I know that ‘Frankie’ is someone who is precise. ”
Three years ago, then with Suzuki, Carchedi became world champion together with Joan Mir. Before that, the British-born technician had worked with Karel Abraham, among others. His greatest success to date, however, is the world championship title with Mir at Suzuki.
Marquez gets “Frankie” Carchedi as crew chief
2024 Carchedi will work with six-time MotoGP World Champion Marc Marquez, saying, “With Joan Mir he became World Champion and of course I hope that we will also establish a good connection from the beginning. ”
Joan Mir has positive things to say about Carchedi. “Marc will find a technician who has always provided peace of mind, at least for myself. He’s someone who will pull an all-nighter if he has to in order to prepare the bike.”
“That’s something you can’t say about everyone,” says Mir, noting, “I don’t know Santi Hernandez, of course. So I can’t make a direct comparison with ‘Frankie’. ”
Javier Ortiz comes along from Honda, Santi Hernandez does not
But it’s not just crew chief “Frankie” Carchedi whose way of working Marc Marquez will have to adjust to. In general, the MotoGP superstar takes over most of Fabio Di Giannantonio’s crew when he joins the Gresini team. From Honda he brings with him only one mechanic, Javier Ortiz, who is responsible for tyre and fuel management.
Similarly to the case of Santi Hernandez, Marquez also knows Javier Ortiz from many years of working together. Just like the crew chief, the tyre and fuel mechanic was also part of Marquez’s crew during his Moto2 time. For his first MotoGP season (2013), however, the two went their separate ways for a short time, as Ortiz took care of Alex Marquez in the Moto3 World Championship for a year.
In 2014, however, the mechanic returned to the older Marquez brother’s crew. He still works with him in the Honda team today. And that’s exactly what Ortiz will do at Gresini-Ducati in 2024, as the only one from Marquez’s technical squad.
“He’s the only one I’m taking with me,” confirms Marc Marquez and explains why crew chief Santi Hernandez, for example, is not joining him: “The decision [to change teams] came very late. I don’t want to tear up the Repsol Honda team, nor do I want to destroy the family structures in the Gresini team. I only have a one-year contract anyway. “
