Everything seemed set for an extraordinary press conference by Marc Marquez in Mandalika to confirm his move to Ducati Gresini. The program for the MotoGP weekend in Indonesia included an individual press conference, but Dorna apparently didn’t like the idea.
The planned three press sessions will now become two, returning to the usual format of two. The first will feature the top two riders, World Championship leader Pecco Bagnaia and Jorge Martín, second overall, along with Marc Márquez, who takes the place of the Italian rider, Marco Bezzecchi.
It seems that it was Honda who asked to cancel the personal conference of the eight-time champion, at least until the end of the six remaining rounds of the MotoGP season. Even so, Honda is offering him the chance to get on the Desmosedici just two days after the end of the World Championship, on the occasion of the last Irta test in Valencia.
The eldest of the Márquez brothers will be accompanied by one of his trusted mechanics, but it won’t be Santi Hernández, his usual team manager. Ducati preferred not to do this, fearing that Marc would only race with them for a year and could then leave for another manufacturer with very important information, which is even more important in the hands of a technician than in the hands of a rider.