After the confirmation that everybody was expecting, Marc Marquez will be with Gresini Racing in 2024 but didn’t forget to say that this was a very difficult decision to take, but it was a necessary change looking to what he was feeling in the past years and even came to say that he wasn’t enjoying racing, which if it was to continue, he would even think about continuing to race.
The #93 explained in Mandalika that is was super complicated to take this step: ‘Yes, of course it was a very difficult decision, the most difficult of my career because I broke off an 11 year relationship with Honda, a very fruitful relationship. But it was super difficult, and yes, last week was difficult from an emotional point of view, because you know that all my stuff, my friends or my family are inside this box, all the sponsors’.
He then revelead what led him to take such decision: ‘But sometimes you have to get out of your comfort zone and my comfort zone was Honda. But it’s true that for a long time, especially over the last four years, I’ve been suffering a lot, not enjoying myself, and I’ve made a change to enjoy myself on the track again. Because if that’s not the case, there’s no point in me continuing to race, continuing my career, and what I want is more years in my career’.
Marquez got then to say why he decided to continue his career with Gresini: ‘The first objective is to try and enjoy myself and that’s why I chose the Gresini team, because it’s a big family, they have the best bike currently on the grid, and my brother is there. So yes, it will be a big challenge for me, a big challenge for the Gresini team, but they have already achieved very good results with Alex, my brother, and with Enea Bastianini in the past. But that’s what I’m saying: it’s going to be a big change in every aspect, and what I want to do is enjoy it, smile under the helmet, and if I smile, everything will come afterwards’.