Shortly before the end of his year with the Ducati customer team Gresini and shortly before his move to the Ducati factory team, Marc Marquez was asked an interesting question.
In his first year as a Ducati rider, MotoGP star Marc Marquez rediscovered the joy of motorcycling and finally won races again after years of suffering.
Although he does not have current factory material in the Gresini team in the 2024 season, Marquez has so far achieved three victories in Grands Prix and one in sprints with the Ducati model from the previous year, the GP23. At the season finale in Barcelona this weekend, he will fight Ducati factory rider Enea Bastianini for third place in the World Championship and a bonus payment associated with it.
The story of Marquez’s suffering in his last four years with the Honda factory team (2020 to 2023) is well known. Shortly before the end of his first year with the Gresini-Ducati team and thus shortly before his upcoming two-year move to the Ducati factory team, Marquez was asked at a media event whether, from today’s perspective, he should have left Honda earlier than he actually did.
“No, no! I have achieved a lot with Honda and I feel part of Honda,” Marquez begins his remarks. ‘Of course, since I currently ride a Ducati and will be a Ducati factory rider next year, I try to embody Ducati. But Honda was and is a very important part of my career. Who knows, maybe even the most important part?’
Marquez does not see his move to the Ducati camp as a rift with Honda. He sees it much more as a step towards achieving a goal that was in question for him in his last Honda years. “The goal was to extend my career and to be competitive again. I have already achieved that goal,” says the 31-year-old Spaniard.
“Whether I’ll be world champion again is a different matter. In any case, my main goal has already been achieved,” says Márquez. Three days after his first Ducati victory, he proved that he is still in close contact with Honda, especially in 2024. And the Honda team also appreciate their continued close relationship with Márquez.
