Marc Marquez’s move to Gresini-Ducati for a year after eleven years at Honda, confirmed for the 2024 MotoGP season, is the most spectacular driver change in the Motorcycle World Championship in years. There will be a family duel in the Gresini team in the new season, as Marc Marquez’s younger brother Alex Marquez is driving alongside.
The Marquez brothers had already been teammates in the 2020 MotoGP season, back then in the Honda factory team. Because Marc Marquez injured his right arm so seriously at the start of the season, the family duel was limited to a single race weekend. Ultimately, Alex Marquez didn’t have his own brother, but Stefan Bradl as a teammate for the majority of his rookie season in the premier class.
“It’s great that we now have a second chance as teammates,” Alex Marquez looks ahead to the 2024 season with Marc Marquez in the Gresini team and says: “Of course, your teammate is always the first one you want to beat. My rival But it won’t just be Marc, it’ll be everyone. If I beat him, it will certainly mean that I’m at the top.”
But will Marc Marquez also be right at the front in his first season on a Ducati? While Alex Marquez is firmly convinced that this will be the case, Marc Marquez still seems to have doubts. At least that’s what his brother says.
Alex Marquez believes Marc Marquez’s doubts will quickly disappear
“The reason why he only signed for one year? Because he wants to find out if he can enjoy this sport again,” Alex Marquez told the British TV channel TNT Sports (formerly BT Sport) about his contract last weekend in Indonesia older brother. And he revealed something interesting.
“Marc is very clever. He told me that if he doesn’t have fun next year he will quit. That’s a possibility that exists,” said Alex Marquez. “He just wants to see if he can be quick again after his injury. I have no doubts about it, but he seems to have it. It’s completely understandable that he has it because I had it too when I had one last year Honda drove.”
Alex Marquez is talking about how he came from LCR-Honda to Gresini-Ducati in the winter of 2022/23. His results improved almost immediately. The young Marquez achieved a podium finish on his second race weekend with the new team (Argentina). Four months later he followed up with his first sprint victory on the Great Britain weekend.
As for Marc Marquez, as things stand, he will ride the Ducati Desmosedici for the first time this year. At the Valencia test, which is scheduled for November 28th (Tuesday after the season finale), the eight-time motorcycle world champion will make his debut as a Gresini-Ducati rider, unless Honda intervenes at the last moment.
Alex Marquez is convinced that his brother will get approval from Honda to test the Ducati in November. “I am sure that he will enjoy driving in Valencia again. And then his doubts will disappear in his head,” the young Marquez is convinced.
New edition of the brotherly duel in one team
Looking ahead to the brotherly duel in the 2024 season in the Gresini team, Alex Marquez says: “It will certainly be interesting to see him on the Ducati. I was already expecting that I would get a fast teammate. But I didn’t expected.”
In all seriousness, the younger Marquez brother adds: “I see this as a really positive thing, because with an eight-time world champion as a teammate I can learn a lot. I’m happy for the team because they really deserve a fast driver like him. For Marc I’m happy too, because he deserves to get a fast motorcycle again.”
“When he asked me for my opinion this year,” Alex Marquez continued, “I always gave it to him as a brother, not as a driver for Gresini-Ducati. As a brother, I know what he has been through since 2020 and “How much he is suffering at Honda at the moment. The change was his decision, but it was time.”
Regarding Marc Marquez’s chances of success on the Gresini Ducati, brother Alex says: “Normally, as a rider, you can quickly adapt to the Ducati. You could see that in my own example. But he sat on the Honda for eleven years. So “The change is bigger for him. But he has an incredible amount of talent and will certainly be quick from the first moment.”
“But it’s still too early to say whether he will be able to compete for the world title,” said Alex Marquez about Marc Marquez’s upcoming first season on a Ducati.