Marc Márquez will race for free in 2024, yes, you read that right. The confirmation was given by Paolo Ciabatti who spoke for the first time about the future of the rider aboard a Desmosedici next season with the colors of Gresini Racing.
The Sporting Director of Ducati Corse spoke about Marc’s decision to make a significant change next season, even though he was ending a very lucrative contract with Honda, as he explained to Moto.it on the podcast “A Tutto Gas”, confessing that he did not think that the Spanish rider would be released by Honda: ‘Nor did I think that Márquez would be released by Honda. Then he agreed with Team Gresini, I think after talking a lot with his brother Álex [Márquez]. For us, it is a great source of pride that Marc has agreed to race practically without parameters’.
Ciabatti said afterwards that #93 considers the Italian bike the best and… that it will be difficult to manage such a big name, which can somehow add extra “pressure” to the factory riders: ‘Furthermore, he considers Ducati the best bike. Of course, he is a “bad customer” at home for our riders, it is an extra complexity to manage. But his presence can make the factory riders grow even more’.
Additionally, the Italian Director spoke about the pilot’s salary and said… he will race for free, and that is a reason for pride, adding that he will not even be considered to be part of the factory team in 2025
– The fact that a pilot like Marc Márquez decides to race for free, in a satellite team, with one of our bikes is a reason for pride. I can tell you that Marc Márquez is not a target for the Official Ducati in 2025, but as the factory riders are under contract in 2025, except Brad Binder, it may be a possibility.
It is important to remember that Márquez has (still) an annual salary of 12.5 million euros with Honda, with some sources saying that this could go up to 24.4 million this year if the rider manages to race in all the races, which did not happen, as he has already missed some.
