Ducati: Marc Marquez will provide “additional headaches to manage”

Winners of the last two world championships with Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati also secured a top three in the standings with Jorge Martin second and Marco Bezzecchi third.

But their already impressive line-up, which includes 2023 race winners such as Enea Bastianini, Alex Marquez, Fabio Di Giannantonio, has gotten a lot stronger.

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Marc Marquez has entered the fold at Ducati and already made a statement during testing at Valencia.

Likely to be a title contender alongside the likes of Bagnaia, Martin and Bezzecchi in 2024, Marquez could be set to provide fireworks which is why sporting director Paolo Ciabatti says they will need to manage the situation accordingly. 

“We need to show that we’re able to manage,” Ciabatti told MotoGP.com. “In the recent past, we showed that somehow we can manage complex situations and the rivalry between the two teams - between Lenovo and Pramac. 

“Let’s not forget that we have seven Ducati Corse people working at Pramac, five people working at Gresini, three with VR46. 

“All the riders can share data. It’s something that Ducati thinks it can handle. It will be interesting, probably some additional headaches to manage in the season. 

“Ducati will have to manage the situation in the best possible way. On the sporting side, we are always fair. 

“Some people say ‘team orders!’ but Di Giannantonio won in Qatar because he deserved to win, and so many other situations. This is our policy, our strategy, our philosophy. We will try to manage it in the best possible way.”

Ciabatti also spoke about Bastianini, after the Italian was at threat of losing his factory seat to Martin.

Ciabatti was the man who first admitted that this was a possibility, however, with Martin unable to win the title, he has since backed Bastianini to show his best form in 2024.

“He moved from Gresini team to the factory team which is the target for any rider,” said Ciabatti. 

“Let’s not forget his crew chief decided to go to KTM so he needed to find chemistry with Marco Rigamonti. 

“The crash in Portugal had really serious consequences. The collarbone had to be fixed with surgery and the fracture of the shoulder needed time to heal. 

“There is also the muscle which must be regained, and track time. He was missing track time to understand the bike which is different to the bike he was riding last year. 

“Also, to adapt to different working environments. We started to see light at the end of the tunnel - then he crashed in Barcelona. Very, very unfortunate. Enea is one of the fastest riders, he proved it last year, and he can show his true potential next season.”