After closing an eleven-year period at Repsol Honda, Marc Márquez debuted for the first time behind the handlebars of Team Gresini’s Ducati at the Valencian circuit of Cheste, on November 28. But despite the enormous expectation that that test generated, the Cervera driver could not comment since by contract until December 31, 2023 he was still a Honda driver. Today, with the start of the new year 2024, Márquez has made his first statements about him as a Ducati and Gresini rider.
The fourth place that Márquez achieved in his first contact at the controls of the Desmosedici, caused astonishment among the most skeptical and more than fulfilled the most optimistic expectations. Marc finished less than two tenths off the time that left Maverick Viñales as the fastest of the day.
⚠️ @marcmarquez93 speaks for the first time as a pilot @gresiniracing
"I don’t like to compare. You jump on the champion bike, so it’s in your hands" #MotoGP 🏁 pic.twitter.com/XIjGsJPsJQ
— DAZN Spain (@DAZN_ES) January 1, 2024
“I was able to adapt to the bike much faster than expected. Very soon I felt very well, with very good feelings. “Time came out without looking for it in an exaggerated way,” says Márquez, in a statement to Dazn, made that same Tuesday and embargoed until 2024.
“The Ducati is a different bike than the Honda, with a different style. I jump to the champion bike, so it’s in my hands. There are many riders who go fast with this bike. The speed is there, but I still have many things left to understand. Not so much to go faster, but to be more constant. And, above all, at the level of communication with the team,” highlights Márquez.
The eight-time champion has had to leave behind the technical team led by Santi Hernandezwhich is almost a second family for him: “I had been working with a group for eleven years, now it is a new group, but the Gresini family has received me very well and that is always pleasant,” says Marc, who will share the box with his brother Álex and on the 20th he will participate in the official presentation of the team in Riccione (Italy).
The next time he takes to the track with the Ducati will be in the collective test that will take place in Malaysia, from February 6 to 8.