Marquez’ first Gresini Ducati revealed

By Thomas Miles

Date posted: January 21, 2024

Gresini has revealed the livery Marc Marquez will start his new chapter in the 2024 MotoGP World Championship season.

In one of the biggest silly season bombshells in recent memory Marquez defected from Repsol Honda to Gresini Ducati.

It means for the first time since the Spaniard’s rookie season in 2013, the #93 will be seen on a bike that is not a factory Honda.

Instead Marquez will team up with his brother Alex at the satellite Ducati outfit where the pair will ride a GP23 spec machine.

Alex Marquez on his new 2024 Ducati Gresini.

Marc Marquez rode a Ducati for the first time in November last year at Valencia where he finished fourth, just 0.171s off the pace.

The Gresini Ducati livery itself is extremely similar to last year’s with the familiar grey and red style retained while the Ducati logo has been moved closer to the handlebars.

As expected a lot of the focus on the livery reveal was around new star recruit Marc Marquez who appears refreshed after a frustrating and injury interrupted recent past that led to the Honda departure.

“To be fair it is quite a strange feeling after many years with the one team, but this is a beautiful challenge,” he said.

“I only spent a day on it, around 50 laps and I felt good, but curious and eager. I am like a child with new shoes that wants to learn new things.”

The new look Gresini Ducati team with the Marquez brothers.

He also went on to say that he cannot expect to be immediately on the same level as Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia.

“Of course I would like to be fast, but I cannot pretend to (think I can) fight for the victory from the beginning because the last four years were a nightmare for me,” he said.

“The last two years I was not able to win a race and especially because I arrive to a bike that, especially with two riders – who are Bagnaia and Martin, who spent many years with this bike and won many races and championships.

“So, they are super fast and they will have the 2024 bike. We can say the same bike, but you arrive there and you cannot pretend to be on the same level – or, it will not be the normal thing to be on the same level with them.”

The 2024 MotoGP launch season continues when the factory Ducati squad reveals its new world championship defender on Monday, January 22.

NEW MAGAZINE

The first AUTO ACTION magazine of 2024 is on sale at your news agents Thursday or available in digital form right here, continuing on as Australia’s most trusted independent voice in motorsport. If you can’t get a copy locally, you can also subscribe to the latest issue of Auto Action print or digital edition of the magazine here.

Head here for more of the latest motorsport news.

On the latest RevLimiter podcast they also talk about the parity in Supercars and the changes in the series. Other topics include engine testing, Ludo Lacroix joining Premier, Max Verstappen’s Formula One car, NASCAR, and Gilligan’s Route 66 tour to the Chicago Street Race.

Listen to our latest episode on your podcast app of choice or here

Recent Stories

array ( 0 => WP_Term::__set_state(array( 'term_id' => 11, 'name' => 'Latest News', 'slug' => 'latest-news', 'term_group' => 0, 'term_taxonomy_id' => 11, 'taxonomy' => 'category', 'description' => '', 'parent' => 0, 'count' => 13479, 'filter' => 'raw', 'cat_ID' => 11, 'category_count' => 13479, 'category_description' => '', 'cat_name' => 'Latest News', 'category_nicename' => 'latest-news', 'category_parent' => 0, )), 1 => WP_Term::__set_state(array( 'term_id' => 1531, 'name' => 'MotoGP', 'slug' => 'motogp', 'term_group' => 0, 'term_taxonomy_id' => 1531, 'taxonomy' => 'category', 'description' => '', 'parent' => 660, 'count' => 409, 'filter' => 'raw', 'cat_ID' => 1531, 'category_count' => 409, 'category_description' => '', 'cat_name' => 'MotoGP', 'category_nicename' => 'motogp', 'category_parent' => 660, )), 2 => WP_Term::__set_state(array( 'term_id' => 2029, 'name' => 'ZZZ-Email', 'slug' => 'email', 'term_group' => 0, 'term_taxonomy_id' => 2029, 'taxonomy' => 'category', 'description' => '', 'parent' => 2031, 'count' => 4376, 'filter' => 'raw', 'cat_ID' => 2029, 'category_count' => 4376, 'category_description' => '', 'cat_name' => 'ZZZ-Email', 'category_nicename' => 'email', 'category_parent' => 2031, )), 3 => WP_Term::__set_state(array( 'term_id' => 1683, 'name' => 'ZZZ-My105', 'slug' => 'my105', 'term_group' => 0, 'term_taxonomy_id' => 1683, 'taxonomy' => 'category', 'description' => '', 'parent' => 2031, 'count' => 2151, 'filter' => 'raw', 'cat_ID' => 1683, 'category_count' => 2151, 'category_description' => '', 'cat_name' => 'ZZZ-My105', 'category_nicename' => 'my105', 'category_parent' => 2031, )), 4 => WP_Term::__set_state(array( 'term_id' => 2031, 'name' => 'ZZZ-RSSFeeds', 'slug' => 'zzz-rssfeeds', 'term_group' => 0, 'term_taxonomy_id' => 2031, 'taxonomy' => 'category', 'description' => '', 'parent' => 0, 'count' => 3775, 'filter' => 'raw', 'cat_ID' => 2031, 'category_count' => 3775, 'category_description' => '', 'cat_name' => 'ZZZ-RSSFeeds', 'category_nicename' => 'zzz-rssfeeds', 'category_parent' => 0, )), )

Marquez’ first Gresini Ducati revealed

Instead Marquez will team up with his brother Alex at the satellite Ducati outfit where the pair will ride a GP23 spec machine.

“To be fair it is quite a strange feeling after many years with the one team, but this is a beautiful challenge,” he said.

On the latest RevLimiter podcast they also talk about the parity in Supercars and the changes in the series. Other topics include engine testing, Ludo Lacroix joining Premier, Max Verstappen’s Formula One car, NASCAR, and Gilligan’s Route 66 tour to the Chicago Street Race.

Listen to our latest episode on your podcast app of choice or here

Recent Stories

Waters on Tickford’s journey to the top step

Newey set to leave Red Bull

Xiberras misses Supercars for drag racing

Heinrich wins titanic TCM battle