MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks

From a purely selfish media perspective, Ducati's announcement that they had chosen Marc Marquez to partner Pecco Bagnaia in the factory Ducati Lenovo team for the next two years was a little unfortunate. Wednesday morning after Mugello, at the start of a three-week break for MotoGP, meant that we as journalists were not going to get a chance to grill those involved in the decisions. The decision raises a lot of questions, after all.

From Ducati's point of view, it was a little better. It meant they got to pick and choose the outlets they would speak to, and could more tightly control the messaging.

Which is why though we feared we would not get a chance to hear from the protagonists at all until Assen, there are interviews out with both Ducati Corse boss Gigi Dall'Igna and Marc Marquez himself. Dall'Igna spoke to Italian broadcaster Sky Sports Italia, in a short interview, while Marc Marquez joined AS journalist and broadcaster Mela Chercoles for a much longer interview on Spanish radio.

Performance counts

To Dall'Igna first. The Ducati boss told Sky that they had chosen Marquez over Martin or Bastianini for purely sporting reasons. On Saturday afternoon, they had shifted toward taking Marquez over Martin, and made the final decision on Sunday night. That lines up with the moment Jorge Martin contacted Aprilia to sign a contract to race for the Noale factory next year.

"We became aware that he could make a difference riding with our bike," Dall'Igna told Sky. Ducati could see that having Marquez and Bagnaia on the bike was their best chance of ensuring they win the title in 2025 and 2026. Signing Marquez had never been an end in itself, Dall'Igna said, but merely the best option for trying to win more MotoGP titles.

Without going into details, Dall'Igna acknowledged that Ducati had done everything they could to keep both Martin and Marquez, but had in the end to accept losing Martin. That was another reason to have Marquez in the factory team, as it would give them the best chance of beating Martin and Enea Bastianini, who will both be riding for other manufacturers next year.

Atmosphere, not direction

The Ducati Corse boss told Sky that he was not worried about the influence Marquez would have on bike development. Ducati always assessed the data of all of their riders and based their development on that, he insisted. What's more, Marquez was already having an input on development of the Desmosedici. "This year Marquez was one of those riders who helped us improve," Dall'Igna said.

What he was more worried about is the atmosphere in the garage. The Ducati Lenovo garage has been a fairly harmonious place in the past couple of years. Bagnaia working well with Jack Miller and Enea Bastianini. Dall'Igna was keen to ensure things stayed that way with the arrival of Marc Marquez.

With Martin leaving at the end of the year, Dall'Igna was keen to emphasize that support for the Spaniard and the Pramac team would remain the same until Valencia. Martin would continue to receive the full support of Ducati, both on a technical and human level, until the end of the year.

Up close and personal

The interview with Marc Marquez is a little less corporate and a little more revealing. The Spaniard explained that this had been his plan all along. He had taken the - financially and emotionally - hard decision to leave Repsol Honda, the team he had been with throughout his time in MotoGP, for a chance to ride a winning bike. The first goal was to get back to being competitive, the following goal was to fight for championships.

The move to Ducati was most of all a search for motivation. "When you get results, you are motivated," Marquez explained. "I have just been through four years of injuries, without results, and it gets really hard to maintain your motivation. And especially your confidence," Marquez explained. He had to find a way out of that slump. "I had a plan in my head, a strategy, and it is going very well."

Why did he feel the need for a factory bike? The difference, Marquez explained, is not that great, perhaps two tenths a lap. But at the end of the race, that is four seconds, and making up that difference was hard.

At the same time, he saw no reason to switch to Pramac, and had made that clear to Ducati from the beginning. He would have rather have stayed in Gresini, the team that had shown faith in him and allowed him to rejuvenate, to find himself again.

A bigger upside

The reason Ducati had chosen him, he believed, was because of the progress he had made in his adaptation to the Desmosedici. "The thing that matters most is what happens on track," Marquez told Chercoles. "Ducati's engineers have been watching my progress with the 2023 bike and this has been by far the biggest factor. Beyond that, there have been other factors, of course."

Marquez also revealed that Gigi Dall'Igna had been a major factor in his decision to switch to Ducati. There had been contacts in 2017 and 2018, Marquez said, which at the time he had rejected, telling Ducati he was happy inside of Honda. When that changed, he wanted to go to Ducati.

But he would only go if Dall'Igna was there. He had asked Dall'Igna if he would still be there in 2025 and 2026, because if he wasn't, there was no point in even sitting down to talk.

Marquez felt he was not yet in a position to be thinking about winning the title in 2024. There were still things he needed to improve, he said. And the riders he has to beat, Jorge Martin and Pecco Bagnaia, simply did not make those mistakes. You can save a point or a win here and there, Marquez explained, but you can't win a championship that way.

Of course, he and his Gresini crew are working on fixing those issues, and he hoped to be more competitive in the second half of the season.

Rejecting the shootout

Marquez was also asked why he had turned down Ducati's offer of giving the factory ride to Martin or him based on who came out on top at the end of the year. Firstly, Marquez pointed out, he was not playing on a level field, as Martin was on the latest machinery and he wasn't. And secondly, it was not fair on his personal sponsors. Budgets for the following year are drawn up in September, and it is not fair on them if you have to break agreements in November, after the season is finished.

Marquez did feel some sympathy for Martin, he said, but pointed out that this was a part of the life of a professional athlete. You had to be selfish as an athlete, the Spaniard said, because everyone wants the best, and what's best at the moment is "the red bike, the Ducati". And he was happy he had managed to secure that.

Marquez tried to allay the fears of Gigi Dall'Igna that he would be a disruptive force in the factory Ducati garage. "The garage should be calm," Marquez said. "War on the track, calm in the garage."

Fear of falling

Chercoles also asked Marquez whether the Calvary he had suffered with injuries was something that still affected him, and whether he was afraid of crashing and injuring himself again. "Not afraid, no. But after so many races, with no confidence. Insecurity. Stiffness in the body." It was hard to be as smooth as he should be, and consequently, things didn't go as well, Marquez said. And when you were in that defensive mode, it was more dangerous, because you couldn't get your body position right.

Was he more willing to accept a third place now, rather than try to win and risk a crash? "When you injure yourself or go through a difficult moment, you look at things differently," Marquez acknowledged. "Obviously you always want to win, but before, I would finish third and feel terrible all night and all week. Now, I'm third, and I tell myself, stay calm, because Monday is another day, and there's another race in a week and a half."

When did he think he would return to winning and get his 60th victory? "I'm confident I can get my 60th win this season," Marquez predicted. And the ninth world championship? "First I need to win races, because without race wins, there are no titles."

Was beating Valentino Rossi's total of nine world championships an objective? "I never had a number as a goal, and even less so now," Marquez insisted. His sole aim this season was to enjoy racing again, and that was a goal he had achieved. They had a plan, a strategy, he repeated.

The future is here

Marquez was asked about which rider he admired most, and thought could succeed in the future. "I have always said Pedro Acosta," the Spaniard said. A lot of riders had come to MotoGP and been fast, but Acosta was doing something exceptional. He still needed experience in managing certain situations, but Marquez was certain he would manage, and be a significant factor for the next few years.

Did Acosta's arrival remind him of his own? "Yes! When I arrived in MotoGP, I was up against Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, Dani Pedrosa. And now it's Pedro Acosta, who with patience and calm is going to do very well."

Marquez had signed his contract on Wednesday morning, at 8am, and then went out to ride motocross. "I wanted to celebrate my contract by doing the thing I love most in the world, riding a motorcycle. For me, I celebrate my birthday and other important days by training on a motorcycle."

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