“It won’t be the same… But you’ll have to get used to it, now to continue working with whatever comes…”, Carlos Liñán (L’Espluga de Francolí, 1974 ), chief mechanic of the Repsol Honda team for the past eleven years, and with Marc Márquez since 2011, when he recruited him for the Moto2 Emilio Alzamora team.

As for Santi Hernández, Jordi Castellà or Javi Ortiz, the Márquez family in MotoGP, for Liñán nothing will be the same on the bikes without the 93 in the pit: today a new era begins in Xest with the multiple champion changing home, of motorbikes, of collaborators, with its debut in the Gresini Team, Ducati’s satellite structure.

The confetti swept from the Xest podium where two-time champion Pecco Bagnaia was invested, the 2024 pre-season starts at the Ricardo Tormo (from 10.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m.) with the 22 MotoGP riders testing their new mounts for the coming year, and with a handful of barter A third of the grid changes bikes: six riders move teams – Di Giannantonio, Zarco, Rins, Morbidelli and Marini, Márquez’s replacement at Repsol Honda–, and the Moto2 champion, Pedro Acosta, arrives in the premier class , in the place of Pol Espargaró at Gas Gas. A good steak on the grill.

Undoubtedly, the piece move that can change everything in 2024 is that of Marc Márquez on a Ducati, the dominant bike of the last two years, after going four blanks between injuries, operations and the incapacity of a Honda which has technically fallen far behind, one of the worst in cylinder capacity. The arrival of 1993 in the Gresini team – for a single year – is seen in the paddock as a winning bet in the short term, in view of the accumulated talent and hunger of the Catalan, and the power of the Italian machine ( however much it is a 2023 unit).

That is why many people have no doubt that Márquez will be, under normal conditions and if injuries do not torture him, a strong contender for the title. “He can perfectly win almost every race”, commented Pol Espargaró, who will not be on the MotoGP grid for the first time since it was launched in 2014. The one from Granollers, who will act as KTM’s test and reserve rider, believes that the de Cervera is widely qualified to make oppositions to the crown that he failed to win in 2020. “Di Giannantonio does not have a better record and has achieved very good results, in the top 2-5 in the last races, and Marc surpasses him by what it’s talent Can you qualify for the title? Why not? If Martín was able to be champion with a satellite bike, Marc could also do it with a very similar bike, even if it’s a year older.”

Evidently, Márquez puts the brakes on when the expectations are raised for him in his new life adventure, before which he cannot help but feel a certain vertigo. “I am starting a new chapter and I have doubts, despite the fact that it was my decision, because I am leaving my people, the team of my life. I’ve never had a challenge like this, it’s a very risky challenge. The most comfortable situation for me would have been to continue at Honda and I’m going to a new challenge”, comments Márquez, who considers it essential, as a first step, to adapt well and quickly to the bike and the new col· workers

“It will be very difficult to adapt, but I think the fact that Gresini is a family team will help”, and that in the garage next door is his brother Àlex. “If you don’t understand the bike and don’t adapt to it, I won’t do well. Next year I will answer the questions little by little, not all of them will be answered in the test. I have the example of my brother, I will see what I get. I have been working with the same group of people for 12 years, with whom I have obtained 7 titles”.

After four seasons experiencing more misfortunes than joys since the fateful fall in Jerez in July 2020, Márquez’s goal with the change of life to Ducati is “to enjoy again, to smile, to let things work out, to put your head in the front more constantly…”, said Cervera to La Vanguardia. “It will be one of the main things I would like, but to achieve the goals I have to go step by step, I need time, calmness, to avoid all expectations, and to focus on my garage”.