“Somebody in Ducati camp” gives chilling Marc Marquez prediction for 2025 MotoGP

A whisper from inside the Ducati garage has been shared about Marc Marquez’s competitiveness.

The optimism from the inside could scare Marquez’s rivals for this weekend’s season-opening Thailand MotoGP.

Ducati have opted to use 2024 engines, despite testing the newer spec, while Marquez still produced fearsome race simulations in preseason testing.

“This is the first time that the Bologna factory, in a very long time, who have been the pinnacle of MotoGP are standing still,” Jack Appleyard reported from the Buriram paddock.

“They present an opportunity to their rivals to get closer.

“Bagnaia is far from happy with how his Buriram test has gone. [He was still trying] to maximise the last 19 minutes of the test to close the gap to Marquez.

“The question is not: will Marc Marquez win the opening round of the year in Buriram?

“The question is: by how many seconds?

“Speaking to somebody within the Ducati camp, when asked for comments about [Marquez’s] race simulation, he described it as a knife between the heart.

“Not only for everyone in the pitlane but potentially for his teammate as well!

“Davide Tardozzi mentioned Marco Bezzecchi and how impressive he had been. Marquez, over 23 laps compared to Bez’s 13-lap sprint, was faster with a full fuel tank, doing laps to last the duration.

“It was mind-blowing, the pace that Marquez was able to do.

“Despite the fact that they are standing still, and there’s an opportunity there, hand on heart I am 100% confident that the world championship will return to the red box in 2025.”

One worry for Marc Marquez?

Not everything went perfectly for Marquez and Ducati in preseason testing.

Their starts were regularly flawed and will need to be much better this weekend when the racing begins.

“Once again, Ducati and particularly their factory boys are just unable to get their bikes off the line,” Appleyard reported while watching the sub-par starts.

“It has been a common theme of preseason.

“They are having huge difficulties, Bagnaia and Marquez, getting it off the line.

“Right now, if I were to predict how the opening race of the year will go: Marquez to start on pole, be eighth by the end of the first lap, then come through to win!

“It’s obvious how many issues they are having.

“Bagnaia, whether it’s the rear wheel spinning up or the front wheel going skywards.

“It is a huge, huge problem which they’ve had throughout preseason.

“On the final day, it didn’t look like they were close to any answers for how to get the GP25 off the line.

“The idea of the launch device is to make the wheels planted to the ground, to maximise your ability to drive to the corner.

“Marquez [front wheel hopping up] every half-a-second is not helping him.

“It’s uncommon for a Ducati.”