Honda ‘not facilitating’ Marquez exit | Gresini: “If he knocks on our door…”

The Repsol Honda rider has refused to clarify his intentions for 2024 during this weekend’s Japanese MotoGP, Honda’s home race, but the expectation is that he will head to the Ducati satellite team.

But Spanish newspaper AS report that Honda “is not facilitating the exit of the eight-time champion as much as they said they would do”.

Amid the saga of Marquez’s future, Honda’s president Koji Watanabe and its team manager Alberto Puig both hinted that an unhappy rider would be allowed to leave.

“Let's see if it is true,” AS report, while Marquez is expected to hold crucial talks in Japan with Honda’s top brass.

There is “no termination clause” for the final year of his contract, it is reported, so any split “must be done amicably and by mutual agreement”.

Marquez told Sky this weekend: “I'm not the rider who likes to force the hand. This must be good for both parties."

Carlo Merlini, head of the Gresini team, told AS: “Gresini has a Ducati and, if MArquez knocks on the door, it is his. 

“Who wouldn't want to have a rider like him?” 

Davide Tardozzi, Ducati team manager, added: “Ducati has got it right with its bike and with its riders, because it has the first, second and third overall. 

“And, if it can also have Marc, we know that he is very good and we will see next year what he is capable of doing if he comes.”

The next step for Marquez is seemingly to agree a way out of the final year of his current contract with Honda that is also beneficial for the manufacturer.