Marc Marquez's 2024 season can be summed up with one word: "rebirth." From that moment when the eight-time world champion, leaning against that guard rail at the Sachsenring after yet another crash on the Honda began to entertain the idea of a change of course, later realized in Indonesia, it seemed like a lifetime ago.
Instead it was only a year, 2024, which began with a smile in the Gresini box in the Valencia tests, and which brought the champion of Cervera back to the highest levels on a GP23 "not very different from the GP24," but which then in the end was a bit different.
Talent knows no bounds, however, and while the other GP23s struggled with a front-end problem, Marc Marquez rode over the problems, as indeed he already did on the Honda, and won.
The first podium at Jerez, then followed by the one at Le Mans, three victories at the end of the season and a haul of 392 points in the standings that make Marc the "third wheel" in the challenge for the title, undermining Bastianini's official GP24.
At the end of the season even Dall'Igna admitted it : "What Marquez did on the GP23 cannot be explained." Hence the question: could Marc Marquez have fought for the title already in his debut year on a Ducati?
It is the Spaniard himself who settled the question at a conference held in Madrid where our Motorsport.com colleagues were present.
"I will not say that I could have won the title with the GP24, " admits Marc Marquez, "because both Jorge and Pecco had a great season.
I would not have won even with the new model because I was not coming at the best time to fight for a title. Maybe I would have been closer in terms of points at the end of the year, but I wouldn't have won."
There is no denying, however, that the Spaniard's progression on the Borgo Panigale creation has been steadily growing, ever since that fateful smile in the Team Gresini box.
"In terms of physical sensations, the best moment was the Valencia test," the Spaniard continued, "Trying a different bike after ten years on the Honda was the biggest impact I've had this year.
Among the best memories of this season are the first podium in Jerez, where I saw victory again up close, and the triumph in Aragon. Success, however, was not an obsession, although I was looking for it.
Everything I had on my bucket list this year, I did. The rest was a gift. Did I set out to be world champion right away? No, I was realistic, I couldn't go from four years of hell to glory all of a sudden."
A year later, Marc Marquez has now faced testing in Barcelona, but this time on the GP25 in the official Ducati box.
The multiple Spanish champion will share space next season with Pecco Bagnaia, thus creating one of the most successful teams in racing history by adding up the successes of both.
Expectations are therefore understandably high.
"On a test day, the first one in a new team, the main goal is always to get to know people," he continues, "I was 90 percent of the time on the GP25, because in those tests the technicians have to choose a direction ahead of next year to develop the bike.
The good thing is that both Pecco and I had the same advantages and the same problems. From the GP23 to the GP24 there was a step, from the GP24 to the 25 there is a different one.
When you take a new bike to the track, it's difficult for it to be immediately better than the previous version that ran for a year, but the difference is there."
The announcement at Mugello of the switch to the factory team, with the season not yet over, had shaken the paddock.
Marc Marquez will again be in an official team, this time in Ducati red as widely seen in his livery during testing.
"It was one of the changes of the test, I went back to the Honda era, I tried many things. It's a test more for the technical team than for you as a rider.
That's why I said many times that in Gresini I found the perfect team and the perfect situation to find myself. In every test I simply had to focus on my riding style or try the settings.
In an official team, in every outing the bike is different and you have a very structured work plan of what you will try.
I missed what I found in Barcelona. I feel ready to give comments to the factory, it's fortunate that they agree with those of my teammate."
