What does Marc Marquez make of factory Ducati pressure after first MotoGP test?
‘If I didn’t accept the pressure I wouldn’t have chosen this way’
Marc Marquez says there will be more pressure on him now he is a factory Ducati MotoGP rider, but is “relaxed” about this and “accepts” it.
The eight-time world champion made his debut in the factory Ducati box on Tuesday at the post-season Barcelona test.
Marquez rode the GP24 and GP25 bikes across the test, finishing fourth fastest after 49 laps and trailing team-mate Francesco Bagnaia by 0.056 seconds.
This test came almost year on from his first ride on the Ducati at the 2023 post-season test, though the expectations then were different.
Having won three grands prix in 2024 on the GP23, Marquez’s move to the factory team is expected to see him return to the position of fighting for championships.
Asked by Crash.net if he felt this added pressure on his first day with the factory team, Marquez replied: “No, I feel comfortable. I feel relaxed.
“Of course the pressure will be there, but in the end I accept. If I didn’t accept I wouldn’t have chosen that way to move two years ago to Ducati.
“I like to have the pressure. Then you need to manage it, but I know the new responsibility being in the best team on the grid is to try to fight every race for the podium positions.
“Then, to be champion or not, as we saw this year Pecco won 11 races and he finished second. But he did an incredible season and he performed in the best way.”
Marquez had some support from the factory at Gresini this year, but not the level he will have now at the works squad.
But he doesn’t believe he has gained any new insight on why Ducati is so dominant, noting that the way it worked with him at Gresini already made him understand.
“I already understood this year, the way that Ducati is working, it’s not only the factory team,” he added.
“It’s the way it is also working with the satellite teams, all the information they get has the same value as the factory team.
“They take care of those details and that makes the difference if you want to be in the correct way.”
