Ducati had the chance to give Jorge Martín the much desired (and almost promised) place in the factory team but in the end it ended up being almost “forced” to give it to Marc Márquez. There was even a clause in the contract proposed to #89, which he accepted, but which Márquez in turn did not want, and he has now explained why.
The clause implied that Martín, initially the “owner” of the seat alongside Pecco Bagnaia for 2025, would give up the seat to #93 if the still Gresini rider managed to win the MotoGP world championship. This was a condition immediately accepted by Martín but rejected by Márquez, with the pilot explaining to Cadena SER why he had not accepted it:
– It’s simple. One reason, and the main one, is that if we have to beat him on the track, we have to have the same weapons, and now I don’t have them. But that’s no excuse and I’m proving that I can be competitive.
Furthermore, Márquez also recalled that he said he did not want a satellite team, giving more strength (even) to his «ultimatum», which, together with other conditions and issues related to suppliers, also had weight: ‘Another thing is that I was very clear when I said I wasn’t going to move from one satellite team to another. And the third point, athletes not only have sports contracts, but there are others with sponsors who have accompanied me throughout my career and a multinational closes in September for the next two years and cannot wait. It was unfeasible’.
What is certain is that Márquez won “the arm wrestling” in this dispute and Aprilia wasted no time, immediately attacking the signing of Martín for 2025.