The factors that show Marquez’s Ducati MotoGP debut was a genuine success
It’s a little after 11am on Tuesday morning of 28 November at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo. The media mass is assembled outside of the Gresini Racing garage, and has been for well over an hour – hands frozen, faces beaten by a biting wind underneath a cold and overcast sky. Technically, this is the beginning of the 2024 season. And thus, the beginning of Marc Marquez’s time as a Ducati rider. To say this is one of the biggest and most important test days in the last 10 years would be something of an understatement. Hence the swell of bodies surrounding the satellite Gresini team’s garage. At 11:14am, Marquez throws his leg over the GP23 he will race next year – the bike having been wheeled out of Johann Zarco’s Pramac box on Sunday evening and into Gresini’s – and was on his way for his first MotoGP laps in 11 years on something that wasn’t a Honda. He completes eight laps on his first run on the Ducati, the best of which a 1m30.683s. At the time, it put ...