Carchedi: Marquez at Ducati Lenovo? “I know exactly how I think it will go...” - Exclusive

Gresini crew chief Frankie Carchedi might not be joining Marc Marquez for a move to the factory Ducati team in 2025, but the Englishman hinted that he is expecting great things from the #93.

Marquez secured the official Ducati ride, over eventual world champion Jorge Martin, by being the only GP23 rider capable of challenging the factory-spec GP24s last year.

That included three grand prix wins, a sprint victory and two pole positions on his way to third in the world championship.

But the Spaniard will now face a formidable opponent in Ducati’s double world champion Francesco Bagnaia, as a team-mate, in 2025.

On a recent issue of the Crash.net MotoGP podcast, Carchedi was asked what he expects from Marquez at the factory team.

“Yeah... we'll have a chat at the end of the year!” Carchedi smiled. 

“I don't want to say too much, but I know exactly how I think it will go: Second year on [the Ducati], effectively a two-year upgrade in machinery… The guy got 20 podiums [in 2024] year, so I'll leave that one at that!”

For comparison, the three other GP23 riders achieved a combined total of just two podiums last season: one each for Marco Bezzecchi and Alex Marquez.

The performance difference between the GP24s of the Lenovo and Pramac teams and the older GP23s at Gresini and VR46 was a hot topic of debate throughout last season - and unsurprisingly put to Carchedi in the podcast.

“I was thinking ‘what are you guys going to ask?’ And I thought this one's definitely coming up!” laughed the Englishman, who also guided Joan Mir to the MotoGP title at Suzuki in 2020.

“I've had lots of practice on how to answer this and I'll repeat basically what I’ve previously said: The comparison for us was the other GP23s and trying to be the best of those.

“That's what Marc did at Honda, against the other Hondas. You couldn't compare him with the Yamahas, Ducatis or other manufacturers [then]. And it was the same for this year.

“To finish ahead of two [GP24s, Enea Bastianini and Franco Morbidelli] at the end of the year was quite incredible.

“The Ducati engineers are on such a roll. You think that they can't improve and yet they find a way to improve the bike even further every year.

“All bikes have their advantages and negatives. There were just a couple of areas, let's say, that were tricky for us to compete.

“For sure over one lap - but maybe that's more about experience [with the Ducati]. I don't know. We're talking about a rider [Marquez] on the bike for the first time against riders who have had four or five years on the bike.

“And even then, I think we qualified quite comfortably. We had two pole positions in the year and we actually finished third in the [BMW Award] ‘qualifying championship’, which surprised me because it didn’t feel like that!

“Motegi, on his own… was also almost a pole [until the lap was cancelled]! 

“There are differences [between the 23 and 24]. The Ducati engineers are that good that they always make a step. Every year is different. Sometimes it's one-two tenths, sometimes it's more. It’s luck of the draw what year the difference [between factory and satellite] is.

“To summarise, maybe Alex is the best person to ask. Because I think he quite liked the bike [GP24] in Barcelona!”

While Marc and Bagnaia began work on the GP25 prototype at November's Barcelona post-race test, brother and former team-mate Alex was fastest on his GP24 debut.

Carchedi was also asked for his thoughts on what new champion Martin can do at Aprilia.

“You don't win a world championship for free,” he said. “I think it's great for MotoGP to have a top rider at a different manufacturer as well, because that's what we all want.

“As much as it's nice for us [at Ducati now], you do want all the manufacturers to be competitive with top riders. So I think not just [Martin], but also Enea at KTM is fantastic for the championship. It’ll mix it up a little bit.

“I'm sure he'll be there or thereabouts.”