Marc Marquez Reacts to Factory Team Return with Ducati

Marc Marquez made his much-anticipated debut for the factory Ducati team at Tuesday’s post-season test in Barcelona, finishing fourth just behind new team-mate Francesco Bagnaia.

Marquez, spotted in a bright red Alpinestars suit, was aboard a GP24 and the all-new GP25 bike throughout the one-day test. Marquez was just +0.049s down on Bagnaia after completing a total of 49 laps for his new team.

The switch to Lenovo Ducati means Marquez returns to being a full-time factory rider after one season spent with satellite outfit Gresini Racing. Winner of three Grand Prix races in 2024, Marquez accepts that he will be a title favourite in 2025 and that added pressure will be on his shoulders.

Speaking to Crash.net about whether there was added pressure on his first foray out on track with the factory team, Marquez said: “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 pressure. Then you need to manage it, but I know the new responsibility of 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 had an incredible season and he performed in the best way.”

Marquez was a factory rider at Honda for all 11 seasons he spent with the Japanese brand, before jumping across to Gresini on a greatly reduced salary, however, the Spaniard is now back in the fold of being a factory rider and is embracing the challenge ahead.

“It was good to get back to work as a factory rider,” said the eight-time world champion. “In factory teams, testing is always a little different—you have to try a lot of things and be as precise as possible with your feedback.

“Today, we mainly focused on the development of the GP25, trying to determine what was better and what was worse compared to the bike I rode this year. At the end, we also made a comparison with the GP24.

“Some aspects still need improvement, as it’s not easy to show up at the track with a new bike and already be at the level of the one that raced last year. The good thing is that both my feedback and Pecco’s were very similar, which will help simplify the engineers’ work at home over the winter. Overall, the balance is positive, and I’m happy.”

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