Marc Marquez, riding for Gresini Racing, has set a challenging goal for 2024: to stay in the top three of the MotoGP standings. This task is complicated by the impressive performance of factory Ducati rider Enea Bastianini, who has been closing in on Marquez's position.
Despite a solid start to the season and podium finishes, Marquez acknowledges his struggles with last year's GP23 model and some critical errors. With Bastianini outperforming him in recent races, Marquez, currently just 11 points ahead, focuses on maintaining his third-place ranking rather than pursuing the championship leaders, Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin.
“This first part of the season has been good. Not super super good because we did some mistakes but it has been good. We are third in the championship,” Marquez summarized at the Sachsenring after finishing second.
Adapting to Ducati and Gresini
Marquez’s adaptation to the Ducati with Gresini has been exceptional. The six-time MotoGP champion scored four grand prix podiums in the first nine race weekends and secured a factory contract for 2025. However, the season has not been without errors. Notable mistakes include a collision with Bagnaia in Portugal and crashing out of the lead in the Americas GP.
His one-lap pace has also been inconsistent, often forcing him to go through Q1 despite having the speed to qualify higher. His average qualifying position after Sachsenring was 7.4, even though he managed a pole position at Jerez.
Goals for the Second Half of the Season
Reflecting on his year so far, Marquez rated himself an 8 out of 10 but emphasized the need for improvement in qualifying and consistency. He aims to avoid the mistakes that plagued the first half of the season and to make every weekend count.
“The only thing we need to work on during the second part of the season is to try to make a completely good weekend. All weekends some things happen, [both] small things [and] big things,” he noted.
Marquez plans to continue learning from Bagnaia and Martin, who have shown a bit more speed. He is determined to stay in the top three and fend off Bastianini's challenge, despite acknowledging it won’t be easy.