He had to wait three years, but Álex Márquez finally has a competitive motorcycle between his legs. The two-time motorcycling world champion faces his first year with Gresini Racing with renewed hopes and with his eyes set on the podium, and he also does so with an excellent mirror in which to look at himself: el de Enea Bastianini, one of the great protagonists of last season, with precisely the same motorcycle that the youngest of the Márquez will ride this year.
If the tests in Malaysia and Portimao have made something clear to Álex, it is that its harmony with the Desmosedici GP22 is almost perfect; The man from Cervera had to crash twice during the last day of preseason to understand the real limits of the Borgo Panigale prototype, a bike that is better in every way than the Honda with which he has sweated so much in the last two years.
Also, #73 has another guarantee: he rides the bike that last year won the MotoGP title in the hands of Pecco Bagnaia, a more than proven prototype, fast and effective on most tracks that even today, with the GP23 advancing in its development, is capable of rubbing shoulders with the best bikes.
In Malaysia, without going any further, the GP22 of Luca Marini and Marco Bezzecchi set the benchmark, and in Portimao the Mooney VR46 Racing Team duo finished in the top 5 of the combined, thus demonstrating that last year’s Ducati is still a perfectly valid bike to be in front.
In fact, his own Álex Márquez has recognized “See yourself reflected in Bastianini last year” why “nobody expected to be there” and ended up winning four races and even dared to challenge Pecco for the title. Now, the Spanish would like to repeat the feat of the Italian; he believes that “one point is missing” to be able to perform at the same level as ‘The Beast’ this year, and although his goal is to finish the season classified “in the top 7 or top 8” of the championship, Álex cannot hide a small smile every time he is asked if he sees himself winning and making podiums with this Ducati.
Returning to the podium is, by far, the first goal that Álex Márquez has set for himself with Ducati. The 26-year-old pilot has not climbed to the top drawer since the 2020 seasonwhen he chained two consecutive podium finishes at Le Mans and Aragon on the handlebars of the official Honda of the Repsol team in what was, by far, his best moment on the RC213V before his banishment to LCR Honda, where he did not feel as supported.
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Now, in his debut with Ducati, Álex has once again felt valued by the factory for which he runs. He insists that “He has no contract with Ducati” and that, therefore, they are not obliged to attend to their indications, but even so their engineers “They go through the box every day and They tell you that you can’t leave after FP1 until Gigi passes, and that’s cool for the pilot and at Honda it didn’t happen to me”.
And if the youngest of the Márquez family shows up delighted by the treatment he is receiving from Ducatiin Borgo Panigale are equally or more excited about the arrival of #73 to their extensive family of pilots.
Read also: Pol Espargaró: “With Márquez’s injury, the Japanese from Honda stopped the evolution of their motorcycle”
In Portugal, the team manager of the Ducati Lenovo Team, Davide Tardozzimanifested “to be convinced that Álex will have his best season since he has been in MotoGP”, and described Spanish as “a fast driver who has been a two-time world champion”regretting that “In the past he has not had the opportunity to show his potential. I think this year he will get some podiums, I am sure he will be a fast driver“, asserted the boss of the Ducatista box, exemplifying the good harmony that exists between Álex Márquez and Ducati.