After riding the year-old Ducati in five races, Marquez has finished on the podium twice in the grand prix and three times in the sprint races.
At the French Grand Prix, Marquez had a strong performance, coming in second in both races despite starting from 13th place on the grid. He was very close to winning the grand prix, trailing behind Jorge Martin by just 0.446 seconds. This performance pushed him up to third place in the standings, but he’s still 40 points behind the leaders.
Francesco Bagnaia, the current world champion, thinks that the top three finishers in Le Mans will be the main contenders for the title in 2024. However, Marquez doesn’t feel like he’s at their level yet.
Marquez said, “I’m just enjoying. You can see it on my face. You see all what we have inside the box, the atmosphere is relaxed. We started 13th but it was no panic. OK, we know that to fight for a championship you need to be on the level like Martin and Pecco. They are all the practice in the top positions. Still, we are… for example this weekend we learned something on that Friday afternoon, that we chose the wrong direction [with bike set-up]. So, we’ve learned for the future. But we need to understand that still we miss something to fight for the championship.”
Marquez’s performance on the Ducati is being closely watched as Ducati decides who will ride its second factory team bike in 2025.
Marquez said to Sky Italy at Le Mans that he wants a factory-spec bike for 2025, regardless of where he rides. He said, “When I made this decision, I knew that Ducati was the strongest bike. I decided to race with the strongest bike and see what I was capable of doing because even I had the doubt whether I was finished or not. Now, I am competitive. Since I am, clearly next year I want to try to have the latest evolution, any bike, any colour, any brand. Because to fight for the world championship you have more opportunities. But I have clear ideas.”
