Alex Marquez on sharing garage with Marc: ‘We can make a really strong year’

Whether it was Sepang or the two-day Qatar MotoGP test, both Alex and Marc Marquez showed a lot of promise.

Race trim is where both Gresini Ducati riders have been especially strong, although their time attack runs have also been strong. 

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Discussing his performance in Qatar, Alex Marquez told MotoGP.com: “I think we did a consistent pre-season. It’s so important and we were there everyday with the top guys.

“We are not ready to win or to be there, but we have a good pace to start the season.

“There’s no objectives for the first races, we need to go race-by-race and see where we are after six races to see where we are at that point.

“I’m happy about what I felt on the bike during the whole pre-season.”

After joining Repsol Honda in 2020, Alex was supposed to complete a full season alongside Marc before the eight-time world champion suffered his first major injury at the season-opener at Jerez.

Now back in the same box again, Alex Marquez believes big results could be achieved in 2024.

Marquez added: “We will try to help each other. We did the long run simulation together until his crash.

“It’s something that I said last year and I think we can make a really strong year [together]. We can achieve a lot of results together and it will be important to focus on ourselves.

“But it’s good to have him in the box and is a big help.”

In terms of picking a favourite for the season ahead, Marquez listed last year’s title contenders Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin as the ones to beat.

“It’s difficult to say. The test is a little bit to take conclusions [from]. After four or five races we will reach some conclusions.

“But at the moment the favourites are Pecco and Martin and they have the pace for that.”