Is this the 2025 MotoGP underdog to watch?

Gresini’s Alex Marquez could be the one to watch at the Thailand MotoGP.

The younger Marquez brother is sticking with his existing team and continues to use a year-old Ducati, stepping onto the GP24 which Jorge Martin won the 2024 MotoGP title with.

The factory Ducati team are still ironing out issues with their latest-spec machine, and spent time in Buriram testing only last year’s bike.

No such issues in the Gresini garage which Marc Marquez has left behind.

“We are confirming the good feeling that we found in Barcelona with the bike,” Gresini boss Michele Masini said.

“The feeling is good. We tried different setups to be prepared. It is looking exciting, the beginning of this season.

“It is important to discover a bike which has already run for one year with the factory team.

“We have data to look at, and we can try different configurations.”

Alex Marquez backed for MotoGP 2025 progress

Masini said about the factory Ducati’s conundrum over whether to use a 2024 or 2025 engine: “We already know, from the last couple of races of last year, we will have a performance package this year.

“We are focused on our package. The factory team will improve theirs.

“We have to extract the maximum from our package from the first GPs of this year.”

Masini assessed Alex Marquez: “He found good, positive, strong points of this bike which matched his riding style.

“In particular, his braking and entry.”

Fermin Aldeguer is the rookie who is replacing Marc Marquez at Gresini.

“I really like his approach to the new category. He made improvements step-by-step,” Masini said about Aldeguer.

“Now the difficulties will come. At every circuit, he has never ridden in MotoGP, and the points of reference are different to Moto2.”