No longer much of a secret, Ducati officially announced earlier today that Marc Marquez will join the Factory team on a two-year contract. He will be a teammate of current champion Pecco Bagnaia, as Enea Bastianini will leave Ducati at the end of this year to join the GASGAS team in 2025.
Here is the press release from Ducati:
- The Spanish rider will replace Enea Bastianini in the official Ducati MotoGP team starting next season
Ducati Corse is pleased to announce that an agreement with Marc Márquez has been reached for the next two years. At the end of the current season, which sees the Spanish rider riding aboard the Desmosedici GP machine of the Gresini Racing MotoGP team, the eight-time World Champion (31 years of age) will join the Ducati Lenovo Team alongside Francesco Bagnaia, where he will ride the Borgo Panigale-based team’s red bike until 2026.
Luigi Dall’Igna (General Manager of Ducati Corse):
“First of all, I want to thank both Enea Bastianini and Jorge Martín for all their work with us over the last few years, and I wish them all the best for the future. This season, they have shown they have reached an incredible level, and we are sure they will be in the Title fight until the end. Deciding on Bagnaia’s new teammate in the Ducati Lenovo Team was not easy, as we had a list of very strong riders to choose from. In the end, our choice fell on an unquestionable talent like Marc Márquez. In just a few races, he has managed to adapt perfectly to our Desmosedici GP, and his innate ambition pushes him to grow continuously. In the box, we will have two riders who together hold 11 World Titles, and being able to count on their experience and maturity will be invaluable for our growth as well.”
Marc Márquez:
“I am very happy to be able to wear the red colours of the factory Ducati team in MotoGP next season. Basically, from the first contact with the Desmosedici GP, I enjoyed riding it and adapted well straight away. From that moment on, I knew that my goal was to continue this path, to continue to grow, and to move to the team where Pecco Bagnaia has been the World Champion for two years in a row. I am happy to be able to take this big step in 2025 and grateful for the trust Ducati has placed in me. Finally, I want to thank Nadia, Carlo, Michele, and the entire Gresini Racing family for opening the door of their team to me at a delicate time in my career. Now, we will continue to have fun and give it our all in what remains of the current season, which is my priority right now.”
the un-initiated here could easily think that marc marquez is serving a life sentence in prison, or at least atop FBI/Interpol’s most wanted list, for being the worst, lousy, and murderous human being walking this planet and that he didn’t win 8 world championships (some how?).
the mental gymnastics people here compete in to win the ‘who hates MM the most’ title is absolute gold standard class A league.
it’s ridiculous and wondersome just what sentiment is condoned here.
i recall there wasn’t one occasion during MM’s rookie period when he wasn’t roasted here for any slight error made by him. a crash….the world has ended all because of his murderous intentions.
funny how Acosta came out the gates nicely yet has made numerous errors since with nary a mention here about any of it.
all eyes/minds salivating on trash talking everything/anything MM does.
i love the current line of (completely irrelevant) MM trashing going on here…
‘MM is not a skilled development rider.’
*was he ever hired to be a development rider?
no, not a chance.
teams have hired help which they use for bike development, those guys are the never-was-beens and has-beens.
MM obviously isn’t a has-been yet and was never a never-was-been.
Quart is now a happy, very well paid, Yamaha development rider is he not?
aren’t all the guys not winning races development riders…they aren’t doing anything else with their time are they?
there’s Crutchlow, Pederosa…etc.. etc.
how did MM not win 8 championships if he has no input on how a bike is to be set up, what makes it faster and better handling?
who the heck is going to hop on any of MM’s race ready bikes and win races, titles, and championships like he did? no one.
what happens when MM tells his team/team mates exactly how his bike is set up?
answer…nothing.
none of MM’s team mates can ride/win like him so who the hell cares about how MM’s bike is set up or developed for him to race/win?
nobody but MM.
—funny…imagine…Honda after MM wins two Championships…so, marc, wonderful two years but we’re not interested in any more titles/wins/championships…we’d like you to just to concentrate on developing the bike for us and the mediocre riders who can’t touch you on any track and never will. so, that would be great if you could do that now instead of winning stuff all the time.
RIGHT!!!
“It seems that the more Honda catered to MM the worse their bikes got.”
very astute!!!!
surely while MM made himself busy winning titles/championships for Honda, they(Honda) should have demanded he slow down and let his team-mates win some stuff. then Honda’s bike would never have turned to sh**.
again, that’s just brilliant logic. i wonder why Honda did not implement that strategy.
*BTW the consensus here is that MM is simply the most useless/dangerous/dirtiest rider of all times and history and should be imprisoned for life. now I am reading that Honda’s bikes got worse. a very strange admission indeed.
I have to ask then…was is Honda’s bikes getting worse that caused a lot of grief for Honda’s pilots?
“Ducati might do well to ignore his recommendations”
another outstanding brilliant observation Sir.
i’m sure Ducati will ignore anything MM has to say about anything. i’m sure that’s work out best for all parties involved.
Wow! That’s some real mental gymnastics you’ve got going on there.
If you don’t like my opinions, ignore them. I’m a racer and not a race fan. I see things differently. Don’t use my opinions as a reason you need to put yet another photo of Marquez in your wallet. That baby’s probably getting so thick by now that it’s bothering your back when you sit on it and it’s making you all cantankerous and stuff.
And really. I would rather Ducati ignored the existence of Marquez completely. Not just his recommendations. I have a few Ducatis. I occasionally need parts. That has me giving money to a company that would hire Marquez. I would rather never do that.
some real mental gymnastics going on here indeed.
“If you don’t like my opinions, ignore them.”
–now that is rich isn’t it?
“I see things differently”
–you sure do but there is always hope.
“Don’t use my opinions as a reason you need to put yet another photo of Marquez in your wallet. That baby’s probably getting so thick by now that it’s bothering your back when you sit on it and it’s making you all cantankerous and stuff.”
–not at all clever, accurate, humorous, nor relevant. it’s simply your continuous and completely absurd bunk regarding one MotoGp rider that inpsires and prompts me to ‘balance the books’, so to speak, here.
anyone not being a fan of MM, or anyone else, is perfectly fine by me but spewing complete codswallop is not. folks like you sully yourselves and this site…i’m only trying to help you here because i’m super nice.
stop with your continuous twaddle and i disappear. obviously not a real simple concept for you to grasp.
“I have a few Ducatis. I occasionally need parts. That has me giving money to a company that would hire Marquez. I would rather never do that.”
–that’s a really easy issue to rectify…go with Aprilia like JMartin. see…me helping you again.
interesting to read all the comments about those that just hate MM93. disregarding how fast he is, calling him reckless, when all the crashing is being done these days by others. they live in their own little worlds. Marquez got the factory Ducati ride, after Martin chose to ride aprilia. He didnt want to jump from one independent to another. for him it was a factory ride or else. and those that say “he is old”, like experience means nothing. Its interesting season so far, who would have thought at the beginning of the year, Marquez would be where he is in the championship hunt, new bike, new team, all that. Remember he is coming back from injury, OG and all that. huh?
Obviously Ducati see more value in Marc over Martin. It’s not rocket science.
I wonder if Honda’s bikes will now start to improve now that MM is off to another manufacturer. It seems that the more Honda catered to MM the worse their bikes got. Ducati might do well to ignore his recommendations.
I know a guy like that. He spends all kinds of money on his bikes, then he sets them up so they ride just like the first pile of someone else’s rubbish that was his first bike. Ride his bike and you can’t believe that such a nice bike could ride just like a clapped out relic from the early seventies.
So it turns out Domenicali gave Marquez a veto or two on Martin getting the Ducati Factory seat. Which is why Dall’ignia was doing his rhetorical sporting considerations vs marketing considerations tap-dance.
According to published sources, Martin was offered the Factory seat on the proviso that Marquez did NOT win the Championship (unlikely MM wins if Martin continued to be supported by the Factory as he has been, BUT…). Presumably Martin was expected to stay at Pramac if Marquez won. Also Marquez was offered Martin’s Pramac factory-spec seat, probably to help keep Pramac from potentially jumping ship to Yamaha. Marquez had already refused the Pramac switch, while simultaneously demanding a factory-spec bike which Gresini is not contracted to get if Pramac stays. IF Pramac goes to Yamaha, Gresini would probably get at least one factory-spec bike, VR46 the other?. So Marquez MIGHT have gotten a factory-spec seat and been able to stay at Gresini… just sayin’.
So it appears Martin DID decide that if Ducati would even consider giving MM the Factory seat, he wasn’t sticking around while MM wagged the dog.
Also Lorenzo made some interesting comments about Marquez being at his peak, therefore only able to “hold on” while the young guys progress, and how fundamentally MM rides differently than the current Ducati configuration can fully accommodate.
Quite the silly-season soap opera MM has stirred up.
There appears to be some Very Olde Schoole rule around this here?
“According to published sources”
Sauce that s–t! Come one. It’s not like linking to another site costs Dirck revenue or some s–t.
I think it’s generally frowned upon to post links to other media outlets. Some site’s chat boards automatically delete links. It shouldn’t be too hard to find if interested to read the stuff.
This whole thing is an interesting soap opera. Marquez seems like the shorter term bet but long term commitments are more and more rare in this game. Plus, he’s old.
Scroll WAY down to the bottom of the comments where Dirck agrees with me that MM is not a good development rider.
As for links or copy-pasting other sites material, it’s not my job to do research for your convenience. “Published” means it’s on another major site to be found. Besides, I think adding links may trigger moderation delays here. Trust me, if I said I read it on a recognized moto-journal site, it’s not hard to find.
Sauce or GTFO
And you are the arbiter of everything here? Take your own advice, I don’t see you providing references to back up your opinions. All I see is intellectual laziness and sour grapes from a Marquez fan-boi. Your icon is being revealed as something less than perfect, and you take it personally. Grow up, face reality.
I’m not a fan of MM. He’s pushed the “follow the fast guy” qualifying that makes me cringe and doesn’t care if he puts fellow riders in dangerous situations. He’s fast but reckless. Because of this he will probably be champion, but I won’t renew my MotoGP membership to watch it.
I prefer Bagnaia’s, and Martin’s style of skill and respect. Most Italian fans realize this as well (booing MM) and are not happy with this decision either. Now if Pedro Acosta starts winning next year I’ll be back. He’s got a different style of riding and that’d be interesting to watch.
i’m not denying what you’ve said…i do recall hearing it mentioned by the race announcers at the time of it happening…i’m just looking for some insight as they never pointed out what the advantage(s) were to the slower rider.
-he learns where the front person is stronger/weaker? that will happen naturally later if not earlier no?
what else would you expect a rider on a slower bike to do under the same circumstances?
i just watched a show on tyre pressures in MotoGp and that the official supplier of tyres reviews the tire pressures of all teams during the race. i was surprised to see reports that had both Pecco and Martin running lower tyre pressure than regulations allow.
i’m not saying one form of cheating trumps or dismisses the other…just saying a lot of folks are breaking/bending the rules so maybe we don’t always raise just one name all the time.
I really, really hope he can remain upright and finish the season with no injuries, but IF I was Bagnia, taking MM’s history into account, he may just have to play the long game and wait for him to put himself out of a race or two, if not the rest of the season.
Hopefully, MM has gained some wisdom to not throw the bike and himself away in a Banzai move and wait for his moment. I REALLY hope this is the ‘new norm’.
I can’t stand MM, and I didn’t liked at all how Ducati managed the Martin case. I’ll want ANYONE ON ANY BIKE to win over MM.
Of course MM is dangerous from the start. But he is fast. Racing.
No doubt about it, but he’s the most reckless pilot that I ever seen on two wheels. Maybe the the last four years has tempered him something, but he was always a danger for the others in the track.
I agree.
Ducati wants to win. They could care less who. I take that back, they would prefer an Italian, but a Spaniard will do.
“Italian is just dirty Spanish.”
– My Spanish teacher in high school
This whole thing is just so slimy. I’ve been driving the neighbor to and from dropping off his Ducati for the 600 mile service thing. I was eager to lay eyes and hands on the 698 because with the racing exhaust it would meet the parameters on “my next off the rack street bike” that I set thirty years ago. I did cut 25 pounds off of those parameters about ten or fifteen years back to keep up with advances in technology. The 698 is still too heavy on paper, and way too heavy once I simply lifted the cow off of its side stand. That and it has ride by wire. Gaak!
Be that as it may. If I somehow re-fell on my head again some more and dicided to buy the darn thing anyway. These recent moves would unseal the deal.
Dorna built this monster by never never penalizing him. So there is that. But I won’t buy anything from a company who hires this guy in this way. Not happening.
So you’re not going to buy a bike because you don’t like the company’s race management? They’re trying to win races. It’s not like they’re dumping toxic waste.
if this means gresini goes to yamaha, i’ll bet his brother is pissed.
Not surprised and it makes sense.
i really don’t know what to make of this.
MM/Pecco are going to be on the fastest bikes of the paddoc next year.
however, now, for the first time MM will have a ‘team mate’ that is (possibly…we’ll see) just as fast as he is.
in MotoGp; when did anyone, aside from Dovizioso, ever give MM a consistent run for his money?
also, when did any of MM’s team mates ever keep up with him?
maybe MM relegates Pecco to the role that Dovi had for a couple/few years.
i suppose MM could deal with that again for a couple seasons.
maybe MM and Pecco mostly bang bars all the time and neither is succsessul in 2025/2026.
interesting…and odd.
Did anyone ask Bagnaia for his opinion? Team-mates is hardly the term that springs to mind.
Bagnaia was asked what he thought of who might be his teammate by the media types, he said it wasn’t his decision, he’d carry on as he is regardless. I would guess his perspective will change if Ducati starts favouring Marquez’ preferences, like Honda did to Pedrosa, Yamaha did to Lorenzo over Rossi.
In a post-decision interview, Marquez described himself as “selfish” in seeking the Ducati factory seat. Given how self-centred his past has been, this does not augur well for Ducati’s future with him.
Will Marquez change his spots? I see no indications of it. When he joined Gresini, he reacted to other Ducati riders saying good things about him as them playing mind games. Cooperation is not his strong suit.
I can’t see Ducati favoring Marquez or any individual rider in their development. Not doing so is what has delivered them to where they are now, even if the GP23 has fallen behind.
I recall a time when there were 3 model years of Ducati in the field, all competitive because they continued developing the old bike. That was remarkable but I can see them “shorting” the ’23 bikes to keep a clearer Factory/Satellite hierarchy. As cools as it is to have 8 win-capable bikes in the field, that isn’t how it’s supposed to be.
It used to be that this year’s bike was significantly better than last year’s, once satellite teams’ only option. But improvements are getting harder to find, so the satellite teams have a better chance than in the past. Especially on current year bikes.
Ducati must have thought of the PR consequences of having Martin win the Championship, then take his #1 plate to Aprilia. And if Pramac ditches them for Yamaha? Double OUCH. Plus having a satellite team do that makes a record unlikely to be easily broken. OOPS.
All that potential PR lost to benefit from Marquez’s “box office” status for a couple years.
I would hope Ducati would not intentionally scupper Martin’s chances by withholding tech or knowledge he otherwise would have had, but it’s a rough game at the GP level.
The Factory/Satellite gap has widened this year. Satellite Ducatis and Aprilias are finishing farther back from the factory bikes than last year, despite showing equal or improved lap and race times compared to last year when they were up front and even winning.
Last year there was only one Ducati mounted rider who did not win a race (Luca Marini). This year only Bagnaia and Martin have won, the other winners from last year are struggling to make top-10.
-this entire statement is rather spectatcular and spot on!!!
“The Factory/Satellite gap has widened this year. Satellite Ducatis and Aprilias are finishing farther back from the factory bikes than last year, despite showing equal or improved lap and race times compared to last year when they were up front and even winning.
Last year there was only one Ducati mounted rider who did not win a race (Luca Marini). This year only Bagnaia and Martin have won, the other winners from last year are struggling to make top-10.”
-well that’s all wonderful and relevant information… but don’t forget that one, third tier satellite Ducati, is certainly finishing very well so far this year. MM’s Gresisni ducati is doing very well…MM’s Gresini team mate is where all his other team mates ever were. Nowhere.
-what has happened this year in MotoGp, as you have perfectly described, is very simple and obviouse…the ‘bar’ has been raised.
—i called it…
MM raised the bar when he came in.
More improtantly for the others (and to your point)…When MM was forced to be flogging a dead horse, and then completely absent, the bar was substantially re-lowered and Mir, Quart, Pecco won Championships in that new lackadaisical era.
—Now, MM is back and even on a third tier bike this is how fast the bar has been re-raised. the factory Duc team knows this. Only JM and Pecco can compete at this level. Wait until MM gets on a top tier bike. the factory Ducati team knows this too.
Wow, what fun 2025/2026 is going to be!!!
“When MM was forced to be flogging a dead horse, and then completely absent, the bar was substantially re-lowered and Mir, Quart, Pecco won Championships in that new lackadaisical era.”
I’m not sure I agree with this. Marc’s absence opened the door but these newer riders have shown incredibly ability and performance. pecco in particular has been fast and rock-steady under pressure in his past two championships.
I did think MM’s arrival on a Ducati (any Ducati…) would result in an instant win-streak but that hasn’t happened. Next year we will know and if he doesn’t win a lot then the conversation will be whether or not he’s over the hill, which is a fair question given his age and what he’s had to recover from.
“Marc’s absence opened the door”
-i do believe so…and wide open at that.
while Mir and Fab battled for the Championship for those first two years…Pecco and Martin comfortably developed their skills also not having to worry about MM.
“pecco in particular has been fast and rock-steady under pressure in his past two championships”
-well…Pecco (whom I am a fan of) is quite a ways back in the current standings. he has had quite a few hiccups this year. i’m not too worried. Fab had a huge lead in 2022 during the first half of the season then Pecco got on it and took the Championship. i don’t doubt the same thing happens this year too although I think Martin and his bike easily put up a more difficult challenge than FQ and his Yamaha did in 2022.
“Bagnaia was asked what he thought of who might be his teammate by the media types, he said it wasn’t his decision, he’d carry on as he is regardless.”
-as he should. right?
“I would guess his perspective will change if Ducati starts favouring Marquez’ preferences”
-do you mean to say that Ducati would be wrong not do everything they can to give MM a tool he can use to get the best results possible and that they will not do the same for their other pilot?
c’mon now!
“In a post-decision interview, Marquez described himself as “selfish” in seeking the Ducati factory seat. Given how self-centred his past has been, this does not augur well for Ducati’s future with him.”
-really? Ducati doesn’t know what they are doing letting MM have a top spec bike? Wow…I hope someone let’s them kow this before it’s too late.
back to reality…
Ducati knows, as does everyone else, that had MM not been forced to flog a dead horse for years, Mir and Quartararo (and quite possibly Pecco too) would not have won a MotoGP Championship and also in that same time Martin and Pecco may not have blossomed as much as they have.
with a ridable bike MM proved he has what it takes, in spades.
“Marquez described himself as “selfish” in seeking the Ducati factory seat”
like everyone else on the planet…MM knows he has a couple few years left and has the talent and drive to win and post some more records to go out on. MM did not want to wait for the best tool to get the job done…wow…what unbelievable self centerdness.
Ducati gave him the best tool they have because they, and everybody else on the planet, know he fully deserves it. Simple.
“Will Marquez change his spots?”
-and what spots would those be? win races because his talent and drive makes him win? how rude.
“When he joined Gresini, he reacted to other Ducati riders saying good things about him as them playing mind games.”
-and he told you this when?
“Cooperation is not his strong suit.”
-how so? MM never had a team-mate who could even dream of keeping up with him…exactly who is/was he supposed to cooperate with and how?
My point was, as of now, it appeared Ducati had learned the lesson of enlisting former, near-the-end-of-career champions, giving those “star” riders what they wanted and expecting to win championships. Note that with Lorenzo, they did the opposite, refusing even for “comfort” items that other riders would have had differently anyway. So Ducati came to work in the middle ground, having cooperatively developed a bike AND team/development system a competent MGP racer can do well on, and a great racer can win championships on.
If MM was such a great development rider, the Honda would not be the disaster it currently is. MM’s PREFERRED style (assuming he can ride like that anymore) is radically different from others, so any CORE developments to advance his agenda diminishes others’ progress.
Just because other riders can’t beat MM to a championship doesn’t mean they don’t have critical abilities MM lacks. It is open paddock knowledge that Pedrosa was instrumental in developing the bike MM won on. Pedrosa was ignored, left for KTM and the Honda became unrideable, even for the Great MM. MM should have stayed and dealt with the bike he “developed”, he was sure getting paid enough for that part of the task. I think Honda was secretly glad to see the back of him, he wasn’t winning for them anymore, and re-developing the bike was obviously beyond his abilities.
I’ll also posit that Honda’s issues may also stem from integrating many car engineers into the motorcycle division. Take one look at the former-flagship Goldwing to see how trying to change a motorcycle into a 2-wheel car is a fool’s errand. I once owned a 1981 Wing and now a 2016 F6B, so I know that progression from personal experience. And I wouldn’t touch a DCT version with a bargepole, too complicated, too much to go wrong. Let alone the steering stem screwup, can’t get the most basic things right. And I have owned nothing but Hondas since 1985, so I’m not a “hater”. Soichiro must be spinning in his grave.
But I digress.
The current MGP rule book has allowed more manufacturers to be competitive, and so there are more opportunities for riders to change seats and remain at the top. No more Honda-Yamaha controlling the series and the rider market. If Ducati allows MM to rule the roost, as he obviously wishes to like he did at Honda, Bagnaia has enough good years left he would be welcomed elsewhere. Only time will tell if Ducati reverts to its “career-killer” reputation, the choice is theirs to make.
Marquez’ “mind games” comment was QUOTED in the Media, sorry you missed it… or had your MM fan-boi blinders on. Probably scrubbed by now, can’t say anything bad about him y’know. Even when he says it himself.
I agree Marquez does not have any skill when it comes to bike development. The current state of the Honda is proof of that. Honda even refused development advice from Alex Rins, even though he was the only rider to win on a Honda last year and has proven to be very good at bike development.
Honda has somewhat famously ignored rider feedback in the past. There was a time when they made a strange wharthog of a bike with the fuel tank under the engine. After months of not being competitive and riders crying for what they need, the engineers stood with their arms crossed and proclaimed that the riders were just riding it “wrong”. They capitulated and created the dynasty building NSR 500 buy my how the mighty have fallen back into their old ways.
They’ve gotten it worked out in MX/SX, mostly with a couple of stellar young riders. But this is prototype racing, which gives them much more freedom to mess things up.