Before last Tuesday, someone close to Marc Marquez and who can be included in what is defined as his circle of trust, was very clear in answering the question about how he thought the Spaniard would do on his debut on a Desmosedici. “It’s quite simple: you just have to see the look on his face when he takes the helmet off after the first ride out on track.”
The half-contained smile on the Catalan’s face as he met the gaze of Frankie Carchedi, his new track engineer at the Gresini team, was one of the most popular images of a day that had the makings of a before and after in the MotoGP world championship.
Rarely has a simple gesture been so illustrative of the weight that had just been lifted off the shoulders of a rider who decided to leave his “comfort zone”, as he himself described his position at Honda, to bet everything on a satellite team that can only offer him a bike that is theoretically inferior in technical terms to those ridden by others.
The hype generated by the prologue to Marquez’s and Ducati’s adventure was on a par with the media attention that accompanied the whole saga that led him to leave HRC. In many moments, it seemed that the title race between Pecco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin was on the back burner and that what really mattered was to know the future of the six-time premier class world champion.
The first glimpse of that future came in difficult track conditions at Valencia, on a windy day and with asphalt temperatures below 18 degrees, yet Marquez rider only needed seven laps to move to third on the leaderboard, three tenths behind his brother Alex who was fastest at the time.
Insight: The factors that show Marquez’s Ducati MotoGP debut was a genuine success
Davide Tardozzi, team manager of the official Ducati team, was very clear when asked for his opinion of what he had just witnessed: “It was impressive. Marc did much better than we could have imagined.”
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
There were smiles for Marquez after his first run on the Ducati
By 5pm, Marquez had set the fourth fastest time, being the second quickest Ducati, after a total of 49 laps, finishing less than two tenths off pacesetter Maverick Vinales. At the end of the session, most questions revolved around the Ducati newcomer.
“I was betting that he would finish first,” Bagnaia dared to say.
Vinales reckoned: “Of course, I’m not surprised that he went so fast. He has the best bike now and we are talking…
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