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Category: Moto GP
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The first European outing for the 2024 MotoGP season saw Marc Marquez’s star shining bright. With far-from-ideal track conditions, the #93, for the first time aboard the Desmosedici machine around the Portimão track, was able to top the timesheets in the morning free practice before securing the direct seed for Q2 with the third-quickest time in the final session of the day. Ahead of him only Bastianini and Miller.
1’38.210 was today’s best lap for the eight-time world champion, still far from the outright lap record of 1’37.2 he set last year on a Honda. He also had the first crash of the season, a simple low side without consequences.
Alex Marquez also had a tumble, which “only” affect his overall performance for today. The #73 finished half a second away from his brother, but the forced return to the pits in the decisive minutes of the afternoon practice resulted in a 12th place finish – and a mandatory participation to Q1.
3rd - MARC MARQUEZ (1’38.210s)
“It was a positive day, despite the crash. It’s all part of the learning curve and we’re doing well. We know where we’re losing time, and we know why. T4 has never been by strongest part of the track, I have never managed to get the last two right-handers the perfect way. The crash happened because of the heavy traffic on track and the Ducati is harder to manage in someone else’s slipstream. Still, it was my mistake, but it’s good anyway: it was a matter of time before my first crash and everything helps.”
12th - ALEX MARQUEZ (1’38.809s)
“The crashed ruined our plans a little and once I got back to the track, I wasn’t feeling fully comfortable with the soft tyre, and I still was doing a not-so-bad lap. Then I found some traffic, with Mir following Pecco. I managed to overtake him, but still lost some time. Q1 is always a big price to pay, but we did everything to be competitive. Right now, we only need to focus on Q1, then we’ll turn our heads on the sprint race and the full-distance Sunday encounter – qualifying is now key.”
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The start of the season is already under the belt and the Gresini Family still keeps growing, this time courtesy of the partnership with Italjet, an Italian institution with solid roots in the so-called Motor Valley.
Italjet becomes technical sponsor of Team Gresini MotoGP, who just made their debut under Losail’s floodlights in Qatar last Sunday with the two brothers Alex and Marc Marquez.
The partnership will not stop at the track, as the famous Italian motorcycle manufacturer has already a Gresini Racing-liveried version of its top product DRAGSTER in the works.
MASSIMO TARTARINI – PRESIDENT & CEO of ITALJET
“For us it’s an incredible honour to become Technical Sponsor of Team Gresini, a squad that has established itself among the top protagonists of MotoGP – while aiming higher and higher each year. We’re tied to Team Gresini through a solid partnership, and we also have a very strong sense of belonging to our territory, Italy’s Motor Valley. This partnership will also lead to the development of a Dragster Replica with Team Gresini’s colours. The DRAGSTER, which we define as an Urban Superbike, is an ode to sport and its values.”
CARLO MERLINI – GRESINI RACING COMMERCIAL AND MARKETING DIRECTOR
“I’m very, very pleased to welcome Italjet among Gresini Racing MotoGP’s technical sponsors. We share a very pronounced racing DNA, obviously, but also the fact that we belong to a territory that, as it’s well known, has extremely strong connections to motorsport. We developed with Italjet a dual partnership: on top of the sponsorship, there’ll also be an agreement to develop a Gresini Racing MotoGP replica of the Dragster, the iconic model of the Italjet range that will soon be available in the distinctive colours of team Gresini.”
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#QatarGP. In Qatar’s Night of the Oscars, the stars of Mac and Alex Marquez shone bright. The #93, in what was his debut with the Gresini Racing-liveried Desmosedici machine, made a stellar start and put together a solid race, even battling with Martin for the podium in the latter stages of the encounter. He was eventually fourth at the chequered flag; Alex Marquez also had a positive Sunday, being the fifth best-placed Ducati rider at the line for a sixth position that bodes well for the upcoming races.
Between sprint race and full Sunday encounter, Team Gresini Racing MotoGP proved to be on scintillating form, leaving Qatar with 31 points, and finishing as second-best team in the opening round of the season. MotoGP proceedings will resume in less than 10 days at Portimão.
4th - MARC MARQUEZ
“I had a go at the podium. I wanted to preserve the front tyre in order to have a little extra at the end of the race, and almost bridged the gap to Martin. Almost, but it’s good this way. If at the Valencia test they’d told me I would have finished fourth today, I would have signed for it. This has never been one of my favourite circuits so fourth place is a good result. We will analyse the data now: Bagnaia finished three seconds ahead of us and he’s the reigning champion. It’s from him we need to learn to further raise the bar.”
6th - ALEX MARQUEZ
“Qualifying aside, we put together a strong weekend. I managed to stay with the top riders in the race and play my cards. It was hard to attack, especially due to the high temperatures at the front-end. At this track, this is surely a good result, we bring home a good number of points and fresh confidence ahead of the next round.”
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The opening day of the #QatarGP turned out to be quite the unusual one, with the rain affecting the second session as well as the weekend schedule. The majority of MotoGP riders chose to move the decisive session to tomorrow, leaving today's final session as second free practice.
This decision was not agreed by Marc and Alex Marquez, who did well in both session. The #93, in particular, was fourth quickest in FP1 and then topped the timesheets in wet conditions. Alex, despite an ongoing issue that is yet to be solved, managed to stay in the top eleven (9th under the rain).
The key practice session for a direct seed to Q2 will take place tomorrow from 13:40 to 14:25, while the sprint race will get underway at 19:00 Doha time.
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4th - MARC MARQUEZ #93 (1’52.801s)
“First official day and it was important to start with a good feeling without ending up overdoing. It went well, despite the rain… it was a strange day without time attack which was moved to tomorrow. The goal was Q2 and we'll try tomorrow, but the feeling in both dry and wet conditions were good. On the dry there are 3 to 4 riders who are quicker than us, but we need to keep working and keep discovering the bike little by little.”
11th - ALEX MARQUEZ #73 (1’53.250s)
“The first day went quite well. This morning we worked on different settings to solve some issues we had in testing. It didn't go exactly how we wanted and the afternoon rain kind of “ruined” our plans. It was still important to ride in the house ain and we adapted well also in th e conditions. Tomorrow will be a stressful Saturday so we need to sleep well tonight.”
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Team Gresini MotoGP and Battipav shake hands once again and will be together in 2024 for a new journey, this time a bit more Spanish-flavoured given the arrival of Marc Marquez to pair up with confirmed brother Alex.
Present in all countries hosting the MotoGP World Championship, Battipav will make the most of activations and sponsorship synergies.
The Battipav brand will be visible on the Ducati machines as well as on the leathers of Marcand Alex Marquez, inside Gresini’s MotoGP pit-box and on the team trucks.
STEFANO TONDINI –BATTIPAV GENERAL MANAGER
“With the arrival of Marc Marquez, we couldn’t but renew the partnership with the Gresini family for 2024! The Ambassador project by Battipav is going from strenght to strenght, not only in Europe but also around the world: in the most part of this year’s 21 races, the Ambassadors of the Battipav brand will be able to live the #BattipavExperience as protagonists, this year more than ever with the winning duo of the Marquez brothers. Team Gresini and Battipav share core values such as family, passion and Made in Italy with the Red (with a light-blue livery) machine from Borgo Panigale, so we start this 2024 full throttle and together once again!”
CARLO MERLINI – GRESINI RACING COMMERCIAL AND MARKETING DIRECTOR
“We start a third year together with Battipav, a great international institution and Italian pride. We feel very close and in 2024 we’ll continue to work together with the same approach that has always characterised this partnership. A big thank you goes to Stefano and the whole Battipav family for the trust placed in our project, it’s going to be a very interesting season.”
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