According to KTM CEO Stefan Pierer, Marc Márquez has knocked on the door of Pierer Mobility AG several times in the spring and summer of 2023when he wanted out of his contract with HRC, and eventually signed with Ducati and took the place alongside his brother Alex in the Gresini Racing team, which uses GP23s in the current season.
After outstanding riding performances in the 2024 season, the only question remaining was whether the #93 would move to Pramac next season or to Ducati Lenovo as a teammate of world champion Pecco Bagnaia.
Many insiders were betting on a move by the eight-time world champion to Pramac Racing, because the Spaniard has been a Red Bull athlete since his debut in the Estoril GP in 2008, and no one expected the outstanding driver to part ways with the Austrian energy drink company. After all, he could have enjoyed first-class support in Pramac and fought for the title, like Jorge Martin in 2023 and 2024.
But Marc Márquez abandoned Pramac’s path three weeks ago, on the occasion of the Mugello GP, and surprisingly announced a U-turn towards Lenovo. Why he is aware that at 31 years old, 254 GP participations, a total of 85 victories, 93 pole positions and 143 podiums, he doesn’t have much time left and its best days may soon be behind it.
To remember: Rossi won his seventh and final MotoGP world champion title in 2009, at the age of 30. Márquez will already be 32 years old at the start of the 2025 season and won’t have many more chances to win his seventh MotoGP title (first since 2019!) against the younger generation.
Marc Márquez is therefore subordinating everything to the project of “regain the world title”. This plan already became clear when he renounced his 20 million euro salary from Honda for 2024, he signed with Ducati for next to nothing and has financed his rider salary this year with private sponsors.
Reluctantly, Marc Márquez will most likely have to give up five of his private sponsors for the agreement with Lenovo Ducati: in addition to Red Bullit’s about Oakley, Allianz, Samsung and Estrella Galicia 0.0. This is because the official Ducati team advertises rival companies Monster, Carrera (sunglasses), UnipolSai (insurance company), Lenovo (computer) e Castaldi Counts (group of drinks based on wine and champagne).
Marc Márquez has been a Red Bull athlete for around 17 years; his brother Alex was sponsored by Red Bull as early as 2014, when he won the Moto3 world title. We know that Marc hoped to wear a Red Bull helmet in the Lenovo Factory Ducati team. But the three-year contract with Ducati Corse does not expire before the end of 2025 and in the meantime it has been renewed for several more years.
It’s hard to imagine Marc moving to Monster for 2025, knowing that his manager Jimmy Martinez he worked as “Head of Motorsports Marketing” at Red Bull España before taking over the role from Emilio Alzamora in August 2022.
In Ducati Corse and Red Bull no one wants to comment on the Márquez-Red Bull topic. Red Bull terminated its sponsorship deal with Repsol Honda at the end of 2023 because Marc left. The Austrians have not signed an agreement with the private team Gresini.
It remains to be seen how Ducati Corse and Marc Márquez will finally solve the Energy Drink problem. But one thing is certain: The six-time MotoGP world champion will not be able to continue advertising for Red Bull in 2025. Márquez accepted this fact because he wanted the best possible place on the starting grid. “Marc absolutely wants to win the world title in 2025”colleagues who work in Márquez’s environment tell us.
In 2015 and 2016 the LCR Honda team had two riders with different contracts with Energy Drink: Cal Crutchlow was under contract with Monster, Jack Miller with Red Bull. But for a factory team such a solution is difficult to imagine.
“It’s under discussion,” a member of the Ducati team told GPOne.com.
Our best guess at the moment: Marc will only have the Monster logo on the bike next year and will not display any Energy Drink logo on his helmet or cap.
The 2020 Moto2 world champion Enea Bastianini had to end his long personal sponsorship contract with Red Bull when his manager Carlo Pernat negotiated his deal to race for Lenovo Ducati two years ago.
In recent months it has become apparent that Ducati Corse General Director Gigi Dall’Igna secured Marc Marquez’s undisputed riding skills for more than one season last summer. Marc has been promised a GP25 bike for his second season in Ducati, if he gets the right results in the first part of the season.
Dall’Igna, who has long been the most important puppeteer of MotoGP, had already expressed to GPOne.com his admiration for Marc Márquez’s excellent skills at the Austrian GP in August 2023. The 57-year-old Italian and the Spaniard know each other very well and have mutual respect. After all, the current Ducati boss won the 125cc World Championship with Marc on a Derbi with the Ajo Motorsport team during his successful era in the Piaggio Group in 2010. Gigi did not want to leave the superstar to competitions after one year for 2025. Dall’Igna even accepted disagreements with deserving Desmosedici stars such as Bagnaia, Martin, Bastianini and Bezzecchi.
In the spring and summer of 2023, KTM has certainly made efforts to obtain two additional slots for MotoGP. Discussions with Dorna management began immediately after the start of the season in Portimao.
Red Bull KTM Moto2 team owner Aki Ajo guided the young Márquez to his first world title in 2010 (riding a Derbi 125 cc built by Dall’Igna) and would have preferred to take over the two orphaned Suzuki slots. For 2024 Ajo planned to set up a MotoGP dream team with Marc Márquez and Pedro Acosta, with whom the famous Finnish talent scout 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. Worked with Marc at Red Bull KTM in 2008 and 2009.
Many may have forgotten that Marc Márquez’s exceptional talent was first spotted by Cesar Rojo in Spain about 18 years ago. Cesar was manager of the Derbi team for a long time at the time of world champions such as Jorge Martinez, Ricardo Tormo and Manuel Herreros in the 80 and 125 cc classes. He later took on the role of General Manager of KTM España, discovered Marc in local races at a very young age and signed him to the Red Bull KTM Junior team to participate in the CEV Repsol 125 cc International Championship, which then led to the Junior World Championship Moto3. For this reason Marc Márquez also made his debut in the 125 cc GP World Championship as a rider for the official Red Bull KTM GP team in 2008. In 2008 and 2009 he achieved 13th and 8th place in the 125 cc general classification.
The return to KTM did not materialize in 2023, however, because the former RNF team continued to race with Aprilia under new Trackhouse ownership; Gresini Racing has allied itself with Ducati again and Rossi’s VR46 team has always agreed a third year with Ducati for 2024. The two Suzuki Ecstar seats remain reserved for a newcomer such as BMW, Kawasaki or MV Agusta in 2027. That’s why the last summer there was no place for Márquez at KTM.
After the departures of stars like Stoner, Rossi, Lorenzo and Dovizioso, the withdrawal of Suzuki and the modest results of the Japanese manufacturers, the MotoGP World Championship urgently needs a media-heavy rider like #93.
But despite the enthusiasm, Márquez was unable to steer the development of the RC213V in the right direction at Honda following the departure of Dani Pedrosa to KTM after the 2018 season. Honda also overworked experts such as Jorge Lorenzo, Pol Espargaró , Joan Mir and now Johann Zarco and Luca Marini.
It will therefore be advisable for Ducati engineers to continue to gather as much technical input as possible from all the top riders around Marc Márquez in the future. It took a few years after Dall’Igna’s arrival (in October 2023) for the Desmosedici to become a more “user friendly”, drivable even by beginners and competitive for all drivers on all tracks. This was achieved in part thanks to smoother power 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 principals, there is no need to worry on this point. He discovered all the loopholes in the MotoGP regulations, he invented the WingletThe “table spoon“, all the devices and at the same time managed to please more high-level pilots than any other manufacturer.
