2024-01-11 16:22:04
After the massive presentation on Wednesday of Marc and Álex Márquez in Madrid as ambassadors of Estrella Galicia 0,0 for another year in the MotoGP World Championship, and this season also teammates in the Gresini Racing MotoGP formation, the two brothers agreed to a more familiar interview to talk about the challenge posed by the sporting project of both of them with Ducati, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of competing to the maximum against a tough rival to whom, as a human being, you are also united by indissoluble emotional ties.
After the launch of Estrella Galicia 0.0’s main ambassadors in the MotoGP World Championship in 2024 as new teammates, Marc and Álex, Álex and Marc, analyze their possibilities in the season that is about to begin.
Ask: You both shared a team in 2020, but Álex was only a rookie then and Marc was the title champion. Now comes the moment for which you have been asked so much. What have you and each other learned since then?
Marc Marquez 93: “I think we have learned quite different things. Álex has trained in a category and I have learned life lessons, more than professional ones they have been personal ones and also how to face the different problems that you encounter along the way.”
Alex Marquez 73: “For me it has been a professional learning experience because I came to the category as a Moto2 world champion and as a “Rookie” you have to learn many things. Basically, then I was a rookie and now I am a veteran in the category, because this will be my fifth year. Everything has changed a lot for me.”
P. How do you each face this new chapter in your professional career?
MM93: “I think it will be the first year that we are teammates because in 2020 we were teammates and we shared the team presentation and just the first race, but we could not do a year as true teammates. Life circumstances have led us to meet again in the same team and we will see. Logically, in 2020 it was very different. I simply thought about the title, he was a rookie and I thought about learning. Now the roles are different, I am in a position where I am going to try rediscover myself and Álex last year already showed where he is now.”
AM73: “I experienced an evolution in 2023, I laid the foundations and now it’s time to be a more solid driver.”
P. It is always said that the teammate is the first driver to beat. It may not have been like this in your case in 2020 due to the circumstances at that time, but now you are both going to risk your prestige in the face of Ducati. Is there room for family concessions in this new scenario?
MM93: “He is the first rival, but everything remains in the family. (laughs) We are both here for the competition and that comes from our genes and, logically, if I can beat him (Álex), then better, and if he can beat me Well, the better for him. The main thing is also to try to help each other as we have always done at home. Then, on the track, everyone has their technical team and their own problems. It is not even good to talk too much because, sometimes, a comment from me It may sound completely different to him, so we will continue as we have done until now, each one with his technical team and at home helping us as much as possible to prepare well for the race weekends. It is also important to be in a family team like the from Gresini, that union is also strength. You have a good atmosphere and it is completely different. In Valencia, we finished the test and took the family photo in the box and it is a completely different atmosphere from that of a factory team, in which “Everyone goes more to their own thing.”
AM73: “In my personal experience, when I have had a teammate with whom you get along very well, that has been when I have had my best years, like in 2019, when I had Xavi Vierge as a teammate in Moto2, I managed to become world champion. That competitiveness on the track, but getting along off it and making a bit of a “team”, so to speak, not only helps the team, but also to join forces with the drivers and comment on things that you wouldn’t comment with another teammate. , which makes you work in the same direction”.
P. How far do you think each one can go this year?
MM93: “I think it is a mistake to start with a realistic objective or expectation. Because an expectation now would have to be high. If not, I would be deceiving you. You cannot set an expectation, much less express it because then the level of frustration can be great. So, as I have said until now, I have made this change to try to smile inside the helmet, to feel those butterflies of going to a Grand Prix again… Logically, I would like to be fighting in the top positions, but we will see if it is timely “If I can be consistent there, if I can’t… We have a preseason ahead where there is a lot of work to do.”
AM73: “As Marc said, for expectations right now it’s too early. Of course you can speculate, you can think about it a little, but in the end, personally, for me the focus of the season is to go from training to training, first in preseason and then, race by race. Because in the end, if you don’t have an end-of-season goal and you go race by race, and you get the most out of it, you are constant and you don’t fail, you say: “okay, I’m here.” Now you know “You can set a goal to reach the end of the season with some option for that goal that you set.”
P. Marc, do you see Álex fighting for victory this year also in the long race on Sunday?
MM93: “He has already done it, so he is capable. That is where the big difference is between being able to aspire to something great or not. If you are able to fight for the top positions constantly, in each Grand Prix, or only occasionally. Álex, In his last races, I myself suffered as his rival. He was fast and, especially in Malaysia, he was very fast. In Qatar he was also very fast. He has the level, we have to find a way to be constant.”
P. Álex, do you think Marc can return to his best moment, but this time with the Ducati?
AM73: “The Ducati is a very competitive bike that adapts to many riding styles. We will see if its strengths also make the difference as they did with its previous bike, and from there, we will see. In training, it looks great… (laughs) Training, he is the same Marc and I’m sure he will be competitive this year. Then there is what he himself has said. Whether more punctually or more regularly, but he has the speed and he has shown it.”
P. If you both find yourself in a position to fight for victory against the other, do you think there will be any limits or will it be a fight to the maximum as with any other driver?
AM73: “I think it was clear already in 2022 or 2023 in Mugello or Portimao” (laughs).
MM93: “He is one more and there is no qualm. (laughs) Obviously, whether it is your brother or another rival, always, the first thing you have to do is finish the race. Overtaking in the last laps is more at the limit than in the middle of the race. race, but you always have to try to have that “safety” margin, in quotes, because, in the last laps, many times, without meaning to, you overtake and things happen that have happened and will continue to happen. But since your brother is your partner, team, you have to be a little more careful, but only because he is your teammate. But it is impossible to control that, since he almost “took it over” in Mugello in 2022. (Laughs) He didn’t do it intentionally, but, Obviously, we are going 350 km/h and it is very difficult to control all situations.
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You can enjoy this video interview below:
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