Alex Marquez He was one of the drivers who finished the Barcelona test the happiest. MotoGP from last Tuesday. The Spanish driver, now without his brother Marc on the other side of the garage Gresini Racinghis main motivation after the Barcelona Solidarity GP was to try the Desmosedici GP24 for the first time, and the truth is that he was more than satisfied with it.
On his first day on the Ducati that during the course they had Pecco Bagnaia, Jorge Martin, Enea Bastianini And Franco Morbidelli, Number 73 leads the rankings in playoff testing times. He did so despite a fall in the second part of the 7-hour workout, clocking a best of 1:38.803.surpassing the Yamaha of Fabio Quartararo.
Thus, little Márquez Alentí was the only one to cross the 1h39 barrier all day. Actually, He improved by more than four tenths the 1:39.252 which allowed him to qualify in eleventh position on the starting grid for the last grand prix of 2024, while he was still riding with the GP23.
In this way, in his statements to the media after the whole day, the Catalan could not hide that he was happy and that the Ducati 2024 was a step forward, even if some had said the opposite during the course. He did it even on the Ducati test model, Michele Pirrowhich had to be retracted, as Márquez revealed as an anecdote.
“Where I noticed the biggest difference was in the corner entry, where we have struggled so much this season.“, Alex began. “The other day Michele Pirro said it, that there was more difference than he thought. And I told him that I had said in interviews that there wasn't much, I poked him a little bit. But he said he realized that was the case. Above all, at that moment, it didn't make you pilot [con la GP23] very safely and with a lot of confidence. It was a bit of a treacherous bike.when it seemed like everything was going well, suddenly you lost the front axle due to the rear thrust.”
“The GP24 improved it especially in this phase. Because of my riding style, that's where I suffered the most, especially at the start of the season.. Every time I pushed a little more, the GP24 got better, and that’s positive,” he continued.
Of course, Márquez admitted that he didn't find the rhythm of his new machine during his first outing on the track: “The pace with the GP24 was not instantaneous, in the first run I didn't feel completely comfortable, but I did the same time. It was a good sign. And in the second, I started to play with the bike a little more, and that's when I started to get used to it a little more.”
After that, the man from Cervera took stock of the campaign, which in the last part had its ups and downs, although he managed to finish it satisfactorily: “A season ends in which we We have been in good shape, but we need to rest and give it continuity next year, we will start the year on circuits where I have always done well. I think this season finale has a pretty simple explanation: in Misano 2 I had three falls, in Indonesia I had five, and that's when I lost all confidence. In Japan it wasn't serious, but I had the incident with Joan Mir. But from there, I think we started on a 'crescendo' rhythmand have more confidence.
“I think the fall in Aragon, after which I wasn't 100 percent because I felt dizzy, didn't help either. It was a process of acceptance and getting back to where we were before.“, he concluded.
