English
Italiano
According to KTM CEO Stefan Pierer, Marc Márquez knocked on Pierer Mobility AG's door several times in the spring and summer of 2023 when he wanted to get out of his HRC contract. He then finally signed with Ducati and joined his brother Alex at Gresini Racing, which is using GP23 bikes this current season.
After his outstanding riding performances in 2024, the only question left to be answered was whether or not #93 would switch to Pramac in the upcoming season or join world champion Pecco Bagnaia as his teammate in Ducati Lenovo.
Many insiders were betting on the fact that the eight-time world champion would switch to Pramac Racing because he's been a Red Bull rider since his GP debut in Estoril in 2008. And no one expected the exceptional rider to part company with the Austrian energy drink company. After all, he could've enjoyed first-class factory support at Pramac and fought for the title, like Jorge Martin did in 2023 and 2024.
But Marc Márquez abandoned the Pramac route three weeks ago at the Mugello GP and surprisingly announced that was going to take a u-turn back towards Lenovo, because he knows that, at 31 years of age, with 254 GP appearances, a total of 85 GP victories, 93 pole positions, and an astonishing 143 podium finishes, he doesn't have much time left, and his best days could soon be behind him.
As a reminder: Rossi won his 7th and last MotoGP World Championship title in 2009 at the age of 30. Márquez will be 32 years old at the start of the 2025 season, and he won't have many more chances to win his 7th MotoGP title (the first since 2019!) against the younger generation of riders.
Marc Márquez is, therefore, subordinating everything to the "recapturing the world title" project. This plan already became clear when he forewent the "rumored" 20-million-Euro Honda salary for 2024, then signed with Ducati for next to nothing, and financed his rider salary with private sponsors this year.
With a heavy heart, Marc Márquez will most likely have to give up five of his private sponsors for his Lenovo Ducati deal. Besides Red Bull, there's also Oakley, Allianz, Samsung, and Estrella Galicia 0.0. This is because the official Ducati team advertises for rival companies such as Monster, Carrera (sunglasses), UnipolSai (insurance company), Lenovo (computers), and Contadi Castaldi (wine and champagne).
Marc Márquez has been a Red Bull athlete for about 17 years. His brother, Alex, had already been sponsored by Red Bull in 2014 when he won the Moto3 world title. We understand that Marc was hoping he'd be able to wear a Red Bull helmet in the Ducati Lenovo Factory team, but his three-year Monster contract with Ducati Corse doesn't expire until the end of 2025 and, in the meantime, it's been renewed for many more years.
It's difficult to imagine Marc will switch to Monster for 2025, knowing that his manager, Jimmy Martinez, was working as Head of Motorsports Marketing at Red Bull España before he took over Emilio Alzamora's role in August 2022.
Noboby wants to comment on the Márquez-Red Bull subject at Red Bull and Ducati Corse. Red Bull terminated their sponsorship deal with Repsol Honda in the end of 2023 because Marc left. The Austrians didn't sign an agreement with the private Gresini team.
How Ducati Corse and Marc Márquez will finally solve the energy drink issue remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: the six-time MotoGP world champion can't continue to advertise for Red Bull in 2025. Márquez accepted this fact, because he wants the best possible spot on the grid. "Marc definitely wants to win the word title in 2025," the guys who work with the Márquez stated.
In 2015 and 2016, the LCR Honda team had two riders with different energy drink contracts: Cal Crutchlow with Monster, Jack Miller with Red Bull. But, for a factory team, a solution like this is difficult to imagine.
"They're discussing it," a Ducati team member told GPOne.com.
Our best guess at the moment is that Marc will just sport the Monster logo on his bike next year and no energy drink logo on his helmet or cap.
2020 Moto2 World Champion Enea Bastianini had to finish his long-term Red Bull personal sponsorship contract when his manager Carlo Pernat negotiated his agreement to ride for Lenovo Ducati two years ago.
During the last few months, it's become obvious that Ducati Corse's General Manager, Gigi Dall'Igna, secured Marc Marquez's undisputed riding skills for more than one season last summer. And Marc has been promised a GP25 factory bike for his second season at Ducati if he achieves the forseen results in the first part of the season.
Dall'Igna, who's been the most important puppet master in the MotoGP, had already expressed his admiration for Marc Márquez's excellent skills to GPOne.com during the Austrian GP in August 2023. The 57-year-old Italian manager and the Spanish rider know each other very well and mutually respect each other. After all, Ducati's current boss won the 125cc World Championship with Marc on the Derbi with the Ajo Motorsport team during his successful Piaggio Group era in 2010. Gigi didn't want to leave the superstar with the competition for 2025 after one year. Dall'Igna even accepted disagreements with deserving Desmosedici stars like Bagnaia, Martin, Bastianini, and Bezzecchi.
There were definitely efforts to aquire two additional MotoGP slots for KTM during the spring and summer of 2023. The discussions with Dorna's top management began right after the season started in Portimão.
Red Bull KTM Moto2 team owner Aki Ajo guided young Márquez towards winning his first world title in 2010 (on a 125cc Derbi constructed by Dall'Igna), but he would've preferred to take over the two vacant Suzuki slots. Ajo planned to set up a MotoGP dream team with Marc Márquez and Pedro Acosta for 2024, with whom the famous talent scout from Finland dominated the World Championship in 2021 (in Moto3) and 2023 (in Moto2).
Red Bull KTM team manager Francesco Guidotti was also hoping to sign Marc Márquez for a potential third KTM team in June 2023. He worked with Marc at Red Bull KTM in 2008 and 2009.
Many people might have forgotten thaw Marc Márquez's exceptional talent was first spotted by Cesar Rojo in Spain about 18 years ago. Cesar had been Derbi team manager for a long time in the era of World champions like Jorge Martinez, Ricardo Tormo, and Manuel Herreros in the 80cc and 125cc classes. He later took on the role as General Manager for KTM España, discovered Marc at local races at a very young age, and hired him for the Red Bull KTM Junior team to enter the International CEV Repsol 125cc Championship, which later became the Junior Moto3 World Championship. That's why Marc Márquez also debuted in the 125cc GP World Championship as a rider for the official Red Bull KTM GP team in 2008. He finished 13th and 8th in the overall 125cc WC standings in 2008 and 2009.
But a return to KTM didn't happen in 2023 because the former RNF team continued with Aprilia under the new Trackhouse ownership. Gresini Racing then partnered with Ducati again, and Rossi's VR46 had agreed on a third year with Ducati for 2024. The two Suzuki Ecstar slots are now reserved for a newcomer, such as BMW, Kawasaki, or MV Agusta in 2027. This is why there was no place for Márquez at KTM last summer.
After stars like Stoner, Rossi, Lorenzo, and Dovizioso left, along with Suzuki's withdrawal and the modest results of the Japanese manufacturers, the MotoGP World Championship urgently needs a media influencer like #93.
But, notwithstanding all the enthusiasm, Márquez was unable to lead the development of the RC213V in the right direction at Honda, after Dani Pedrosa went to KTM following the 2018 season. Honda also overburdened experts, such as Jorge Lorenzo, Pol Espargaró, Joan Mir, and now Johann Zarco and Luca Marini.
It's, therefore, advisable that the Ducati engineers continue to gather the technical input they can from all the top riders around Marc Márquez in the future. It took Ducati quite a few years after the Dall’Igna's arrival (in October 2023) before the Desmosedici bike became more "user friendly" and rideable, even for rookies, and competitive for all riders on all tracks. This goal was partly achieved by a smoother delivery, thanks to a modified electronic set up that helped improve rear tire management.
But, with Gigi Dall'Igna, the smartest fox among the MotoGP team bosses, there's no need to worry about this point. He discovered all the loop holes in the MotoGP regulations, invented the winglets, the "spoon", all the other devices and, at the same time, managed to please more top riders than any other manufacturer ever has.
