Marc Márquez joined Gresini for the 2024 MotoGP season and quickly returned to fighting for top positions and podiums – now with a Ducati bike, after dealing with injuries and Honda’s increasing issues between 2020 and 2023.
In an interview with DAZN, the Spaniard was asked if he is fighting for the title, and he denied it in his response: ‘People say it. I was close, but we have to see reality. And the reality is that, how can I be fighting for the World Championship? If I have been saving Sundays one after the other, which were the starts, it was this or that, and now I am third’.
With Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) and Jorge Martín (Prima Pramac/Ducati) a step ahead, Márquez admitted that the goal is to keep the third place he currently holds: ‘There are always two riders. The point is that it’s not just one; there are two riders constantly faster than us and who are finishing ahead. So, fighting for the World Championship? A lot of things need to happen, but I don’t see myself in the fight for the World Championship. The goal is to try to stay in the top three, and it won’t be easy to hold off [Enea] Bastianini’.
With 166 points accumulated, Márquez has an 11-point lead over Bastianini and is 46 points behind Martín, who is immediately ahead. Meanwhile, Bagnaia’s lead is 56 points ahead of the eight-time world champion.