Alex Marquez re-signs with Gresini Racing

Days after taking his first ever MotoGP race win – in the sprint at the British GP in August – Alex Marquez confirmed he’ll remain at Team Gresini Racing until the end of 2024. The 27-year-old Spaniard moved to the Ducati satellite team this year after two seasons with LCR Honda.

While he excelled in Moto3 and Moto2, winning the world championship in both classes, Marquez has found MotoGP to be a much bigger challenge, with several crashes and mechanical retirements since joining the premier class in 2020. Although he achieved two podiums in his debut season (with Repsol Honda), Marquez’s best race finish in two years with LCR Honda was fourth.

Since his switch to Gresini and the Ducati Desmosedici GP, Marquez has achieved a podium, a pole and several top five finishes, along with his maiden MotoGP win, at time of writing. This made the decision to re-sign with the Italian team a no-brainer.

“I’m very happy to continue with the team,” Marquez said. “I’ve always expressed this desire of mine and when things go the right way, it’s even easier to understand each other.

“To continue together for the next season is key in order to keep growing with this bike, and with this team, everything is going to be easier. I would like to thank Nadia first and foremost, and then the whole team who made me feel at home from day one.”

Nadia Padovani Gresini (team founder Fausto Gresini’s widow) added: “It was a logical step for us to continue together and raise the bar some more. [Alex] has already scored a race win and a pole position in his debut year with Ducati, showing he could battle with the best from the get-go. We will now try to find some continuity together in the next season.”

At the same time as announcing Marquez’s contract extension, Team Gresini Racing confirmed a new two-year agreement with Ducati Corse that will see them continue to use Ducati machinery until the end of 2025. After running Aprilia’s MotoGP programme for seven years, Gresini took on the Desmosedici GP in 2022.

“I would like to thank the whole Ducati family, as we’ll continue with them for the next two years,” Padovani Gresini added. “We’ve already showed we are a good combination this year as well as in 2022, so the goal is to continue to excite and be excited.”