MADRID, 12 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish driver Marc Márquez, brand new signing for Gresini Racing, said this Thursday that his “comfort zone” was the Repsol Honda, but that he regretted that “in the last four years” he had “suffered a lot” and without enjoying himself, reasons for which which will change teams in 2024 for the MotoGP World Championship.
“The truth is that it has been a super difficult decision, the hardest decision I have had to make in my career because breaking 11 years of a very successful relationship with Honda has been very difficult. Last week was hard on an emotional level for all my friends, my entire team, my entire family, my friends who are there on that team and all the sponsors, but sometimes you have to leave your comfort zone,” Márquez said at a press conference from Lombok (Indonesia).
“My comfort zone was Honda, but above all in the last four years I have suffered a lot and I have not enjoyed it. So I have changed to enjoy the track again, the opposite does not make sense to me. What I want is to extend more years my professional career and the main objective is to try to enjoy it,” he argued in this regard.
“For that reason I have chosen the Gresini team, because I consider that it is a great family and that it has the best bike right now on the grid. It will undoubtedly be a great challenge for me and a great challenge for the team as well, but now “They have achieved very good results with my brother Álex and with Enea Bastianini,” added the eldest Márquez.
Marc indicated that “it will be a big change in all aspects”, advocating “enjoyment” and “smiling inside the helmet.” “If I smile, everything will come together,” he predicted before analyzing how he was doing with the Repsol Honda. “The first part of the season I was competitive, in quotes, but not in the right way because I was taking too many risks,” he said.
“In the second part of the season I started with a different approach and now I am taking risks, but not at the same level as in the first half of the season, and I have had successive injuries. It is difficult because, when you are injured, you are going through difficult moment and you can’t make good decisions,” commented Márquez.
“What I have learned in the past is that you have to remain patient, but in that second part of the season we have already had good conversations with Honda, so it was race by race. It was very difficult because every weekend it even changed. mentality, I was plagued by many doubts, but at the same time I had contact at that time with the Gresini team and I told them: ‘Look, I’m not going to move forward with any contract. If you want to wait for me, wait for me, but I can’t promise you anything.’ “, he revealed.
Furthermore, Márquez detailed his change of scenery: “If what I want is to take care of myself and my career, I had to find a new challenge and the best place to achieve it was offered by the Gresini team in 2024.” “Taking a year off was one of the possibilities, because competing without enjoying it doesn’t make any sense to me,” he insisted.
“I have achieved many things in the past, but what I want is to fight in the present. Regardless of whether you have eight or one World Cup in your record, you have to fight in the present and that is the objective that I set for myself,” he repeated about Gresini.
“They took a gamble, so to speak, because I didn’t promise them anything tangible. As an athlete you don’t have that much time. If you lose a year, it’s one less year you have to develop your sporting career. So I want to finish well these last six races that remain ahead with Honda,” said Márquez.
“We are still talking in conversations because just this morning we signed the memorandum of understanding with Gresini. And on Wednesday we started talking with Gresini and I didn’t want to have any distractions, I wanted to focus all my efforts on the main priority which was Honda. One of the The big reasons, or the big doubt I had, was what was happening with my entire team,” he continued at the press conference.
“I had a very deep conversation with each and every one of them, and in the end they are my friends and they advised me as friends, not wearing the team cap. These conversations helped me a lot to make the decision and then I looked for what “It was better for me. I’m going to try to take at least one mechanic, which I think won’t be a problem, but I can’t take the whole team for two reasons,” he warned.
“On the one hand, I don’t want to destroy the Repsol Honda team because we are in October; and secondly, I don’t want to destroy the Gresini team because they are a big family and they have their own mechanics and I am the one who has to adapt to the situation,” admitted Márquez for whom “the only option” was the Ducati.
“It was a one-year contract and I have already explained the reasons. When you are in a very difficult situation, you even start to doubt yourself and I have always said that, if I don’t enjoy it, it no longer makes any sense for me to drive the “Because if you don’t enjoy it, why are you going to stay here?” he reflected on changing teams.
“So I decided to opt for this move to a family team, because that is what I feel about returning to those origins, to that environment. It is a small, family team, with a good bike that is currently leading the championship and I think that It is quite a challenge because spending 11 years on the same motorcycle means that the transition to another will not be easy,” he warned.
“IT’S NOT A GOODBYE TO HONDA, IT’S A SEE YOU LATER”
“For me it’s not goodbye, it’s see you later; sooner or later, but see you later. We’ll see, I hope our futures cross again in the coming years,” Marc stressed, and then talked about the role that his brother Álex could have at his side in Gresini.
“My brother, without a doubt, can provide me with information and some input; but not too much because in the end it is my responsibility, not his. And ultimately what I have evaluated without a doubt is to talk more about the team. Yes that the team is very good, there is a very good atmosphere, but not so much about the bike because each one has their own riding style,” he summarized.
“It seems that in the last two months I had been playing with all of you, but every week the situation was honestly changing. In Misano, when I showed the video, at that moment I was like 90% in Honda, even forgetting the tests and everything. But then the situation changed and I can say that it has been super difficult,” he stressed.
“I called my manager, my assistant, my family and said, ‘I’m going to call Japan and we’ll find an agreement.’ Because that’s what they need right now to work the right way, I think they have to work right now. with patience, put all the possible budget there on the bike and improve the bike step by step,” he concluded.