Let nobody be fooled: as a lot because the Italian model desires to publicly disassociate itself from the settlement that can hyperlink Marc Marquez to Gresini, it could be naive to suppose that the Spaniard shall be driving a Desmosedici subsequent season with out approval from Ducati or, no less than, of its most influential faction.
For some years now, a lot of the paddock has recognized that alongside Claudio Domenicali – the Bolognese firm’s CEO – there is no such thing as a one with extra decision-making energy than Gigi Dall’Igna. It was he who, on the Sunday after the Japanese Grand Prix, made it clear that Marquez had determined to depart Honda to trip a satellite tv for pc Ducati.
Three days later, Marquez introduced that he had parted firm with HRC “by mutual settlement”, the contract that on paper linked them till the tip of 2024. Within the subsequent few days, his signature with Gresini needs to be made official. There, he’ll as soon as once more share a storage along with his brother Alex, a key participant in Marc’s determination to depart Honda.
The six-time champion will land there alone, with out the human group that had surrounded him since his time in Moto2. That is principally as a result of the truth that the Catalan rider rejected the supply to just accept the two-year contract he had on the desk. Ducati’s worry, understandably, is that the engineers and technicians led by Santi Hernandez may go away with Marquez to go some place else after only one 12 months having been capable of examine all of the ‘secrets and techniques’ of the very best weapon on the grid.
Nevertheless, that will find yourself being the least of the issues for the producer that at the moment dominates the world championship, with three of its bikes within the prime three positions within the total factors desk. Not least as a result of Dall’Igna’s want to find what Marc Marquez is able to doing with one in all his Desmosedici will doubtless make it tough to proceed managing the riders in such a managed method.
It is comprehensible that many individuals discover it unusual {that a} star of Marquez’s pedigree and stature shall be competing in 2024 on an ‘outdated’ bike, whereas fellow Ducati newcomer Franco Morbidelli, for instance, shall be racing on the newest model. Opposite to what logic may dictate, this distribution of kit performs in favour of the second that Marquez goes by means of.
The Spaniard is uninterested in being a check and growth rider, and solely desires to fret about going quick on a motorbike that works. And that’s, most likely, what Alex has transmitted to him.
At Gresini Marc Marquez will associate brother Alex, who performed a key position in convincing his subsequent profession transfer
Picture by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
This 12 months, the youthful Marquez got here to the Ducati with the recent reminiscence of getting spent the earlier three years battling with a Honda, so has a really clear reference level. Utilizing that logic, which he extracts each day when coaching with him, the youthful of the brothers is aware of completely properly what the older one shall be able to, no matter whether or not he rides a GP23 or a GP24.
Much more so if we take into consideration what occurred two years in the past, when Ducati made a mistake with its engine alternative for 2022, and had to return on the 2021 engine to equip Francesco Bagnaia and Jack Miller. The worst affected by this have been Jorge Martin and Johann Zarco, who had to make use of the engine specification that Bagnaia and Miller discarded.
Everybody remembers how laborious Enea Bastianini made life within the title race for Ducati’s theoretical chief Bagnaia whereas driving a year-old Gresini Ducati in 2022. The actual fact is that each the ‘Beast’ and Bagnaia rode two very comparable Desmosedici with the identical engine, whereas Martin and Zarco have been left with the newer, however much less aggressive model.
That’s the state of affairs during which Marquez desires to see himself in 2024 and, like Bastianini, additionally sporting the Gresini go well with. “With one distinction: Marc is just not Enea, nor can he faux to be,” a supply at Ducati explains.
It’s regular that many individuals discover it unusual {that a} star of Marquez’s pedigree and stature shall be competing in 2024 on an ‘outdated’ bike, whereas Franco Morbidelli, for instance, shall be racing on the newest model
At this level, it stays to be seen how Ducati’s administration will deal with the employees it should have, and that is the place the distribution of energy at Borgo Panigale comes into focus. Dall’Igna is on his personal and, like all engineers who’re thought of geniuses, his ego is just not small.
That was evident from his phrases at Motegi, the place he pressured that, for him, “the truth that Marc desires to depart Honda to get on a satellite tv for pc Ducati can solely give me satisfaction”. He even revealed confidential conversations with the Tokyo-based firm, which was within the engineer’s contractual state of affairs. His vanity now happy, the duty of controlling the riders shall be left to others.
“If it have been as much as Gigi, along with Marquez, Pecco [Bagnaia], Martin and the others, he would additionally put Fabio [Quartararo] on one in all his bikes. He simply desires to win, win and win,” they are saying at Ducati which, in flip, understands that the opportunity of having essentially the most common face of motorcycling couldn’t be underestimated.
The hazard is that the ambition personified by Dall’Igna may flip in opposition to him. Particularly if we contemplate that, in six years, the Italian model can go from combating with the very best model of Marquez with Andrea Dovizioso because the spearhead of the challenge, to the Spaniard placing the affect of Ducati into query within the occasion of him celebrating his seventh MotoGP title with a Desmosedici from the earlier season.
It stays to be seen how Ducati would deal with such a state of affairs, particularly with its sponsors, who, in concept, make investments giant quantities of cash as a way to have the absolute best mixture. All of this, nevertheless, shall be of little concern to a rider whose sole goal is to simply win once more and show he’s nonetheless the very best rider on the earth.
Marquez may upset the steadiness at Ducati by successful on a year-old bike
Picture by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
