Francesco Bagnaia: “He has a good chance because he is Marc Marquez”
Francesco Bagnaia believes Marc Marquez will be a contender for the 2024 MotoGP title.
While Marc Marquez has stated on several occasions that he is not ready to fight at the very front of MotoGP at this weekend’s season-opener, two-time world champion Francesco Bagnaia is convinced he will be a threat whether that’s in Qatar or in races to come.
Marquez has been very strong during pre-season testing, especially when it comes to race pace.
But with his adaptation to the Ducati still not complete, which has been highlighted in the time attack runs, Marquez feels he needs more time in order to be challenging for race wins.
What will help the eight-time world champion is the fact he is riding last year’s championship-winning machine, a machine that dominated the 2023 season.
Ducati have seven grand prix winners in their line-up, six of which have won races for them, while Alex Marquez is a two-time sprint winner.
But Marc Marquez remains the pick of the bunch when looking beyond Bagnaia and Jorge Martin.
Speaking about Marquez and if he expects a major challenge from the Spaniard, Bagnaia said: “Let’s see. We are here to fight and to discover who will be the main contenders.
“For sure, he has a good chance because the bike is fast and he is Marc Marquez.”
Although he didn’t want to give anything anyway, Martin also expects Marquez to be in the mix going forward.
“He is really strong and we will see really soon,” added last season’s runner-up.
