Marc Márquez will be in a satellite team in MotoGP for the first time in 2024, riding for Gresini. Therefore, the Spanish rider faces a type of work to which he was not accustomed at Repsol Honda – the only team he knew in the premier class until 2023.
The rider emphasized that, not being in a factory team, he expects the tests to be different from what he’s used to: ‘It’s a different pre-season. Normally in a factory team you have many things to do, working for the bike. And this time is the opposite: I need to work on myself, try to adapt myself to the bike, try to understand how Pecco [Bagnaia], [Jorge] Martín, all these top guys, are riding the Ducati, and learn from there’.
When asked if he will have new components to try, Márquez clarified that, for starters, he will focus on adapting to the bike and communicating with the team:
– Basically the program will be day by day. In the first day is try to work in the footrest, handlebars… because in Valencia I just jumped on the bike and I stayed there. But here we’ll have long days, so footrest, handlebars, try to find a good position, and from there start working in the set up and finding a good set up for my riding style – that also in Valencia I wasn’t able to play, I just rode with the base set-up of Ducati. And now here we will start with the standard set up and then step by step understand. And also having a good communication with my new technicians.