(Photo and words by AE Special Contributor Whit Bazemore)
Six-time MotoGP Champion Marc Marquez reignited his passion for racing onboard this year-old Gresini Racing Ducati GP23 during the 2024 MotoGP season, after a three-year period spent battling and recovering from various injuries, including a severely broken and compromised right arm. Marquez won three ‘24 races, finished third in the championship, and most importantly, his approach and data showed Ducati’s chief engineer and racing director Gigi Dall’igna exactly how quick he could be if he were on the latest spec bike inside the factory team. Dall’igna saw that Marquez is still, without question, the best rider currently on the grid, and quickly signed him to a multi-year factory Ducati contract.
Marquez: Stronger Than Ever.
By AE Special Contributor Whit Bazemore
Bend. The well-worn cliche “what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger” is perhaps the most fitting analogy when considering just how good Marc Marquez was last weekend while dominating the MotoGP 2025 season opening Thai GP. Marquez was untouchable, and his crushing defeat of the entire field, including his biggest rival and teammate, two time MotoGP Champion Pecco Bagnaia, marked the end of what has been a long and difficult road back to the top of the sport after a disastrous 2020 crash in Jerez, Spain, which severely broke his right humerus.
Prior to that 2020 crash, Marquez was, without question, the quickest, winningest, and best racer of his generation. He was also seen as utterly fearless, a reputation born not only from his mesmerizing, constantly on-the-edge style and blinding speed, but also from being something of a serial crasher when he felt he had to push his difficult factory Repsol Honda well beyond its limits in order to win.
The Jerez crash led to a series of medical (and personal) miscalculations and poor advice, not to mention Marquez’s admission of his own championship hunger and strong self-belief that he was infallible.
A botched comeback attempt just one week after the Jerez crash, (and unbelievably, only a few days after the subsequent surgery to fix the broken arm!) further damaged the titanium plate installed to hold it all together when it was actually bent from the effort to ride the bike competitively.
This marked the beginning of a multi-year struggle for Marquez to return to full fitness and his former self. The now mangled right arm required three additional surgeries over the next two years, one of which further damaged the arm when the bone was put back together with an accidental 30-degree rotation. Marquez raced for part of 2021 and ‘22 with the arm in this condition, but suffered from near constant pain and was unable to ride in a way to make the bike “work.” Another violent crash at the second race of 2022 in Mandalika saw Marquez suffer for the second time in his career the debilitating eye condition diplopia (a condition which results in double vision). Needless to say, Marquez was a shadow of his former self. Oh, he still won a few races here and there, and had a handful of purely brilliant efforts (his sixth-place finish from being almost 30 seconds down on the entire field at turn one after a mechanical issue during the start at the 2022 U.S. GP in Austin is one of his best ever races, if not THE best). But for a six-time MotoGP champion, just winning races here and there, and not championships, is a sign of decline.
The perception that Marquez’ post Jerez crash decline was only due to his injuries was only partly true, however. Having missed huge chunks of the 2020, ’21, and ’22 seasons, in his absence, Honda had attempted to make the bike more rider friendly so that his teammates could be competitive. This ultimately had a negative effect on development, and due to the decline in competitiveness, the Repsol Honda RC213V, a bike Marquez had spent his career on, became even more difficult and slower. Marquez’s genius had allowed him to win championships on the bike, but that same genius also masked the growing disconnect between the Honda factory and the ever-increasing competitiveness of the Factory Ducati team, driven largely by the engineering genius of Gigi Dall’Igna.
During the dominating Honda Championship years, Marquez had famously described his approach. “The only way to find the limit of the bike is by going over the limit (crashing) and I try to do this in practice,” said Marquez. "Once I know the limit, then I know where it is during the race.” As the Honda became notoriously harder to ride, and while nursing the arm injury, this approach became unsustainable. MotoGP is extremely dangerous in the best of times, but when racing in a compromised situation with a difficult bike and less than full fitness, it is even more so. Another serious crash, and Marc’s career would most likely be over, and everyone knew it.
From 2020, Marquez was earning a reported $25m per year (on a four-year contract) to push the Honda beyond its limits. Trying to do the impossible on an uncooperative bike, no matter the lure of huge money, was apparently beginning to weigh heavily on Marquez’s psyche.
At the very end of the 2023 season, Marquez did something that only a few years before would have been unthinkable: He left the sport’s wealthiest, winningest, and most prestigious team for a small, non-factory (satellite) Ducati team, Gresini Racing, to race a year-old Ducati for the ’24 season.
His stated aim: "to have fun again, to enjoy my racing.” Unsaid was that he was no longer willing to continue taking the huge risks of suffering another potential career ending injury by having to push the Honda well beyond its very visible limits.
The change of scenery was a huge catalyst for the re-born Champion. Racing the year-old Ducati GP-23, Marquez was all smiles during the 2024 season, winning three races in route to finishing third in the World Championship. Notably, Marquez was able to put himself on the edge with the Ducati, but throughout the season, he rarely strayed over it, understanding that the GP-23 was no real match for the improved 2024 factory bike in the hands of two-time Champion Pecco Bagnaia or ’23 championship runner up Jorge Martin.
The off-track drama surrounding Ducati’s line-up changes for 2025 dominated the mid-season headlines. After winning his second MotoGP championship in a row in 2023, Bagnaia had been rewarded with a $12m/yr two-year extension. His teammate, the highly lauded Enea Bastianini, in his second year with the team, had been hamstrung by injury in 2023, and as such, was expected to be let go for ‘24 barring a miracle "Hail Mary" rise in competitiveness. Waiting in the wings was the ultra-quick ’23 championship runner up and longtime Pramac Ducati star Jorge Martin. Early in ’24, it was a given that Martin would be promoted to the factory team at the expense of Bastiainini.
By mid-season, Ducati offered Marquez the available Pramac seat that Martin’s promotion would make available. This meant that Marc would be on the same bike as the factory stars, but not in the official factory team. Marc said no, he was only interested in a full-on factory position. Understandable, as he had proven his return to competitiveness already, was almost back to full fitness, and the old swagger of being “Marc Marquez” had returned. Ducati quickly signed him. Overlooked by Ducati, for the second year in a row, an incensed Martin made a quick one-day decision to leave Ducati and signed with the factory Aprilia team.
Some questioned Ducati’s wisdom in signing Marquez. Sure, 2024 was a great year for him on an older bike in a small team. And yeah, he outshone everyone else who was on a GP-23, (and everyone else on every other team) only beaten in the Championship by the two superstars Bagnaia and Martin on the much superior Gp-24. But it was said by some that Marquez is now kinda old by MotoGP standards (32) and, despite being one of the world’s best and most elite athletes, maybe just a bit more fragile than most. The nay-sayers, pointed out that Marquez, like all great champions, is unrelenting in his quest to win. He has to win. Everything. He is the type of racer who can suck all the air out of a team, leaving nothing for his teammates. It’s just how it is. The doubters questioned whether Marquez’s arrival would disrupt the harmonious team Ducati has been with Bagnaia and Bastinini.
They all have already been proven wrong.
Because, when you really think about it, signing Marquez was brilliant. Age is a number. Broken bones happen to all MotoGP racers, usually many times throughout a career. And a harmonious team? As Ducati has said, they will manage it should it become an issue. And if you have one rider dominating, is an unhappy teammate really a problem? Racing has always been like this.
The first race proved it: Marquez had strong pace from FP1. He qualified on pole. He won the Saturday’s 13 lap sprint. He won Sunday’s 26 lap GP with an embarrassing ease. He now leads the championship by 14 points after one round. And, in both races, he appeared to be far from the edge while dominating everyone.
Marquez has already cemented his reputation as the best rider on the grid, again. Only now, at the end of this season, Marquez might be considered to be the best motorcycle racer ever. It’s a strong crown to wear, but if he dominates and wins Championship number 7, then it’s possible, especially considering all that he went through to get back to this position.
Prior to that 2020 crash, Marquez was, without question, the quickest, winningest, and best racer of his generation. He was also seen as utterly fearless, a reputation born not only from his mesmerizing, constantly on-the-edge style and blinding speed, but also from being something of a serial crasher when he felt he had to push his difficult factory Repsol Honda well beyond its limits in order to win.
The Jerez crash led to a series of medical (and personal) miscalculations and poor advice, not to mention Marquez’s admission of his own championship hunger and strong self-belief that he was infallible.
A botched comeback attempt just one week after the Jerez crash, (and unbelievably, only a few days after the subsequent surgery to fix the broken arm!) further damaged the titanium plate installed to hold it all together when it was actually bent from the effort to ride the bike competitively.
This marked the beginning of a multi-year struggle for Marquez to return to full fitness and his former self. The now mangled right arm required three additional surgeries over the next two years, one of which further damaged the arm when the bone was put back together with an accidental 30-degree rotation. Marquez raced for part of 2021 and ‘22 with the arm in this condition, but suffered from near constant pain and was unable to ride in a way to make the bike “work.” Another violent crash at the second race of 2022 in Mandalika saw Marquez suffer for the second time in his career the debilitating eye condition diplopia (a condition which results in double vision). Needless to say, Marquez was a shadow of his former self. Oh, he still won a few races here and there, and had a handful of purely brilliant efforts (his sixth-place finish from being almost 30 seconds down on the entire field at turn one after a mechanical issue during the start at the 2022 U.S. GP in Austin is one of his best ever races, if not THE best). But for a six-time MotoGP champion, just winning races here and there, and not championships, is a sign of decline.
The perception that Marquez’ post Jerez crash decline was only due to his injuries was only partly true, however. Having missed huge chunks of the 2020, ’21, and ’22 seasons, in his absence, Honda had attempted to make the bike more rider friendly so that his teammates could be competitive. This ultimately had a negative effect on development, and due to the decline in competitiveness, the Repsol Honda RC213V, a bike Marquez had spent his career on, became even more difficult and slower. Marquez’s genius had allowed him to win championships on the bike, but that same genius also masked the growing disconnect between the Honda factory and the ever-increasing competitiveness of the Factory Ducati team, driven largely by the engineering genius of Gigi Dall’Igna.
During the dominating Honda Championship years, Marquez had famously described his approach. “The only way to find the limit of the bike is by going over the limit (crashing) and I try to do this in practice,” said Marquez. "Once I know the limit, then I know where it is during the race.” As the Honda became notoriously harder to ride, and while nursing the arm injury, this approach became unsustainable. MotoGP is extremely dangerous in the best of times, but when racing in a compromised situation with a difficult bike and less than full fitness, it is even more so. Another serious crash, and Marc’s career would most likely be over, and everyone knew it.
From 2020, Marquez was earning a reported $25m per year (on a four-year contract) to push the Honda beyond its limits. Trying to do the impossible on an uncooperative bike, no matter the lure of huge money, was apparently beginning to weigh heavily on Marquez’s psyche.
At the very end of the 2023 season, Marquez did something that only a few years before would have been unthinkable: He left the sport’s wealthiest, winningest, and most prestigious team for a small, non-factory (satellite) Ducati team, Gresini Racing, to race a year-old Ducati for the ’24 season.
His stated aim: "to have fun again, to enjoy my racing.” Unsaid was that he was no longer willing to continue taking the huge risks of suffering another potential career ending injury by having to push the Honda well beyond its very visible limits.
The change of scenery was a huge catalyst for the re-born Champion. Racing the year-old Ducati GP-23, Marquez was all smiles during the 2024 season, winning three races in route to finishing third in the World Championship. Notably, Marquez was able to put himself on the edge with the Ducati, but throughout the season, he rarely strayed over it, understanding that the GP-23 was no real match for the improved 2024 factory bike in the hands of two-time Champion Pecco Bagnaia or ’23 championship runner up Jorge Martin.
The off-track drama surrounding Ducati’s line-up changes for 2025 dominated the mid-season headlines. After winning his second MotoGP championship in a row in 2023, Bagnaia had been rewarded with a $12m/yr two-year extension. His teammate, the highly lauded Enea Bastianini, in his second year with the team, had been hamstrung by injury in 2023, and as such, was expected to be let go for ‘24 barring a miracle "Hail Mary" rise in competitiveness. Waiting in the wings was the ultra-quick ’23 championship runner up and longtime Pramac Ducati star Jorge Martin. Early in ’24, it was a given that Martin would be promoted to the factory team at the expense of Bastiainini.
By mid-season, Ducati offered Marquez the available Pramac seat that Martin’s promotion would make available. This meant that Marc would be on the same bike as the factory stars, but not in the official factory team. Marc said no, he was only interested in a full-on factory position. Understandable, as he had proven his return to competitiveness already, was almost back to full fitness, and the old swagger of being “Marc Marquez” had returned. Ducati quickly signed him. Overlooked by Ducati, for the second year in a row, an incensed Martin made a quick one-day decision to leave Ducati and signed with the factory Aprilia team.
Some questioned Ducati’s wisdom in signing Marquez. Sure, 2024 was a great year for him on an older bike in a small team. And yeah, he outshone everyone else who was on a GP-23, (and everyone else on every other team) only beaten in the Championship by the two superstars Bagnaia and Martin on the much superior Gp-24. But it was said by some that Marquez is now kinda old by MotoGP standards (32) and, despite being one of the world’s best and most elite athletes, maybe just a bit more fragile than most. The nay-sayers, pointed out that Marquez, like all great champions, is unrelenting in his quest to win. He has to win. Everything. He is the type of racer who can suck all the air out of a team, leaving nothing for his teammates. It’s just how it is. The doubters questioned whether Marquez’s arrival would disrupt the harmonious team Ducati has been with Bagnaia and Bastinini.
They all have already been proven wrong.
Because, when you really think about it, signing Marquez was brilliant. Age is a number. Broken bones happen to all MotoGP racers, usually many times throughout a career. And a harmonious team? As Ducati has said, they will manage it should it become an issue. And if you have one rider dominating, is an unhappy teammate really a problem? Racing has always been like this.
The first race proved it: Marquez had strong pace from FP1. He qualified on pole. He won the Saturday’s 13 lap sprint. He won Sunday’s 26 lap GP with an embarrassing ease. He now leads the championship by 14 points after one round. And, in both races, he appeared to be far from the edge while dominating everyone.
Marquez has already cemented his reputation as the best rider on the grid, again. Only now, at the end of this season, Marquez might be considered to be the best motorcycle racer ever. It’s a strong crown to wear, but if he dominates and wins Championship number 7, then it’s possible, especially considering all that he went through to get back to this position.
(Photo and words by AE Special Contributor Whit Bazemore)
Marquez’s unmatched talent, even when compromised by multiple injuries, and his unrelenting will to extract everything from himself and his race bike was obvious for all to see at the 2022 Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas in 2022. Marc suffered a mechanical problem at the start and carved his way through the field from being 30 seconds back at turn one. It was a mezmorizing performance and one of his best races ever. No podium or champagne, but a team (and father Julian) who understood the effort and just how important the result was after suffering such debilitating injuries, and racing while nowhere near full fitness.
(Photo and words by AE Special Contributor Whit Bazemore)
Marc, seen here on his pole winning qualifying lap at the 2015 Indianapolis MotoGP Grand Prix, spent his entire career pushing the Repsol Honda past its limits. Six Championships resulted, and Marquez became a MotoGP superstar.
(Photo and words by AE Special Contributor Whit Bazemore)
All great motorsport champions have an intensity that can often leave normal people a little uneasy. Marquez is no different, although he is also one of the nicest and most accommodating racers in the MotoGP paddock. Behind this intensity is an uncompromising and fearless racer who basically will win at all costs.
Editor's Note: This is our dearly departed billboard, which we had at Road America for several years. Peter gifted the phrase "America's National Park of Speed" to the track, which now uses it proudly in all of its communications. -WG
Editor's Note: Click on "Next 1 Entries" at the bottom of this page to see previous issues. - WG