Javier Sanchez

Updated Thursday, February 8, 2024-21:34

  • Interview Jorge Martín: "I ran with iron in my body, I broke nine bones..."

  • Jorge Lorenzo "I wouldn't change my world titles to have received more love as a child"

The first time

Marc Márquez

got on a Ducati, the MotoGP World Championship returned to 2014, 2016, 2019 or any time between March 23, 2013, the date of his MotoGP debut, and July 19, 2020. when he broke his right shoulder. In Cheste, last November, the Spaniard was flying in his debut as a pilot on the Desmosedici. In that brief, almost advertising test, Márquez was the fastest for many minutes and finished with the fourth best time just ahead of the current two-time champion,

Pecco Bagnaia

, and the rest of his generation, runner-up

Jorge Martín

, for example.

Put your money on 93, he will win the championship again, he will dominate as he dominated, there is no one at his level. The bets turned in his favor and he even placed himself as the third favorite only after Bagnaia and Martin. At the age of 30, after leaving a decade at Honda behind, Márquez had returned to being Márquez and that could only mean victories, podiums,

pole positions

.

But this week the six-time MotoGP champion returned to the present, to his present. In the preseason tests held between Tuesday and Thursday at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia, Márquez was far from the best in the championship and lowered expectations about his season. His time was not slow, but he finished sixth in the standings, behind four other Ducati riders - Bagnaia, Martin,

Enea Bastianini and Álex Márquez

- and

Aleix Espargaró

. The best time, in fact, was half a second faster than Márquez's. The conclusion? Maybe he will win again, he may even become a candidate for the title, but it will cost him and he will even have to invest years.

Adapting to your team

«The expectations are very high, but I have always been realistic. I am coming from the three most difficult years of my career and I have to find confidence again. Those who say that I am going to destroy them should forget. There will be races in which I finish tenth, others fifth and in some, hopefully, I will fight with those in front," Márquez warned with the caution that recent seasons have taught him. He also added: "Now I'm not fast enough to fight for a World Cup."

On the Desmosedici of the Gresini team that he shares with his brother Álex, Márquez still seems rigid, not at all comfortable, although the sets of laps he did at race pace were fast. He himself admitted that he still cannot play with his body, seek the limits and that he does not take risks to avoid an injury that would slow down his adaptation. It is a complex process. The Ducati is a completely different motorcycle from the Honda and around the Spaniard in the garage there are still unknown people.

From his old team, the one that had accompanied him since he won the Moto2 World Championship in 2012, Márquez was only able to sign a mechanic,

Javi Ortiz

, because the Italian team denied him any other contract. Now under the orders of

Michele Masini,

director of the Gresini team, he communicates above all with

Frankie Carchedi

, his chief mechanic, who helped

Joan Mir

win the World Cup in 2020 with Suzuki and who later, with the departure of the Japanese factory , he signed for Ducati to work with

Fabio Di Giannantonio

. Márquez usually speaks with him in Spanish, although with other members of the team he uses Italian, which he also speaks.

Honda and Yamaha, in insignificance

His accommodation at Ducati aims to be the most interesting part of the season that will begin on March 9 at the Losail circuit in Qatar, and which still has some more preseason training, which will also be held in Qatar from March 19 to 20. March. From what we saw in Sepang, everything else will be a return to the duel between Bagnaia and Martín and little else.

Without changes to the regulations and with aerodynamic evolution as a mantra, the speed of the Ducati prevents the appearance of other protagonists and restricts the excitement on the track. It may even pose a problem for the viability of MotoGP in the future. While Márquez attracts attention, two of the most successful brands in the championship, Honda and Yamaha, sink into insignificance. A problem.

Without victories and practically no podiums last year - despite 40 races held between sprint and classics - both could follow in Suzuki's footsteps and leave the paddock. The World Championship has already made some concessions, such as greater freedom in engine development, but it does not seem to be enough. Both of them little by little lose their stars - after Márquez

Fabio Quartararo

could come -, they lose their sponsors and they lose their reasons for racing in MotoGP.