At the Spanish Grand Prix this year, Marc Marquez scored his first grand prix podium aboard the Gresini-run 2023-spec Ducati he ditched the factory Honda for.
As the Italian GP approaches, a sequence of win milestones throughout Ducati’s history corresponding to rider numbers could be added to by Marquez.
Back at the second round of the current MotoGP campaign in Portugal, Martin – carrying the #89 on his Pramac-run bike – scored Ducati’s 89th grand prix win.
That continued a coincidental sequence that began in 2009 with Casey Stoner.
Stoner, the 2007 world champion and Ducati’s first in MotoGP, scored the Italian marque’s 27th win – the #27 doing so on his home turf at Phillip Island in Australia.
In 2022, Francesco Bagnaia won the Italian GP. At the time carrying #63, the number he switched to for his MotoGP debut in 2019 having run #42 (in use by Alex Rins) in Moto2 the year before, Bagnaia’s Mugello triumph was the 63rd for Ducati.
At last weekend’s Catalan GP, Bagnaia tallied up Ducati’s 92nd grand prix win, meaning the 93rd – the number Marquez carried on the front of his Gresini Ducati – is in reach for the Italian manufacturer at Mugello this week.
Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Marquez came from 14th on the grid at Barcelona to finish second in the sprint and third in the grand prix, marking the first time since 2019 that he has scored three successive Sunday rostrums.
On the prospect of continuing Ducati’s win number sequence at Mugello, Marquez said: “Mugello, will be not the best circuit to get the victory especially because I imagine Pecco will be super-fast on those long corners.
“It’s one of his strong points. No stress, no panic. I’m enjoying, I’m happy and this is the most important thing for me.
“It will arrive in the second half of the season that I will be more prepared on the bike, but it’s true that [with] the 2024 bike they will have more under control.
“We will see what happens but for me already it’s a pleasure to fight with these two guys every race.”
How long it took each Ducati race winner to score victory on the bike
Loris Capirossi: 2003 Catalan GP, six races
Troy Bayliss: 2006 Valencia GP, 33 races
Casey Stoner: 2007 Qatar GP, one race
Andrea Dovizioso: 2016 Malaysian GP, 71 races
Andrea Iannone: 2016 Austrian GP, 61 races
Jorge Lorenzo: 2018 Italian GP, 24 races
Danilo Petrucci: 2019…
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