There were high expectations for Marc Marquez’s debut with the Ducati Gresini team, and the eight-time World Champion didn’t disappoint, placing among the fastest riders of the test day from the very first laps.
It’s a start that could bode well for the immense potential that the Catalan will be able to express in the next MotoGP season, in which he is already being tipped by many as the favorite to win the MotoGP World Championship.
His compatriot Jorge Lorenzo also supports the Spanish rider chances, and spoke out about Marquez’s change of team in a conversation with As.
– ‘For him (Marc), on a sporting and entertainment level, it’s fantastic. Unfortunately, he had to give up a contract (at Honda) that he has never seen and will probably never see again in the history of MotoGP. It’s not going to be easy, but if I had to bet, I’d bet on him to win the championship’.
Facing so many strong rivals won’t be easy for Marc, but Jorge Lorenzo is confident that the 2024 title could be within his reach.
“I think the fact that he’ll be up against riders who already know Ducati and are younger than him will complicate things a little’. He admitted.
– ‘If he’s not unlucky, all it takes is what his brother Alex has done. Although he has progressed a lot in MotoGP and is close to his brother’s level, he doesn’t have the same magic and talent. If Alex has been able to do what he’s done this year, why shouldn’t Marc be able to win lots of races?’
Losing the eight-time world champion will be a difficult impact for Honda to absorb, after going through some of the worst years in its MotoGP history.
– ‘If we lose patience, we sink into this situation… we don’t get out of it. You need to have a lot of patience, with the Japanese philosophy of ‘kaizen’, (the philosophy of work) and gradually put the pieces of the puzzle together to get back to having a competitive rider-bike combination. But at the moment, Ducati have the best bikes and the best riders, so it will be difficult to beat them,” said the Mallorcan.
The Mallorcan was convinced that an experienced engineer like Gigi Dall’Igna could be a solution for the Japanese manufacturer: ‘It would definitely be. If Honda had hired Gigi two or three years ago, they would probably have a better bike now and wouldn’t have lost Marquez.
Doing what Marc did on the RC213V will be a very difficult mission, but after many expectations about who would take the Spanish rider’s place, the Japanese manufacturer found Luca Marini as his successor.
– ‘I understand the fear of any rider when a top rider and the best on the grid (Marc) decides to give up his contract to leave Honda,’ commented Jorge. ‘I understand the fear, especially of young riders like Fermín Aldeguer, of moving up to a bike like this.
The 36-year-old also seemed quite surprised that Valentino Rossi
supported his brother’s departure to HRC, even though he still has a year left on his contract with his team.
– ‘I’m not sure how things stand, because I heard Marco Bezzecchi say that Marini has distanced himself from Valentino and no longer trains at his brother’s ranch. But it’s curious, given the way Valentino ended his relationship with Honda in 2003, that his brother is now joining the brand,’ he concluded.
In fact, Valentino Rossi even posted an Instagram story with a photo of his time at HRC, as if to indicate that something was about to happen.