Neil Morrison | June 28, 2022
Alex Marquez has signed for Gresini Ducati for 2023, opening the way for Alex Rins to take his place at LCR Honda. The former Moto2 and Moto3 World Champion will race a year-old Desmosedici GP22—this year’s factory bike—alongside Fabio Di Giannantonio, who extended his current deal with the team.
A Marquez on a Ducati? That’s what’s happening with Alex Marquez off to Gresini next year.
“I’m very excited to be starting this new adventure. It was crucial for me to change in order to recover the same type of motivation I had when I first joined this class,” Marquez said.
While Rins had yet to sign the contract with LCR Honda on the Sunday after the race, he indicated the deal was all but decided.
“In the end, I was managing the Ducati option—the Gresini option—or the LCR option,” said the current Suzuki man.
“We were talking with Ducati, and they did not give me an official bike. I was fighting for an official bike and Honda was able to give me that possibility. It’s a nice project. Right now the bike is not going so good in terms of results so let’s see if we can manage to make a good bike.”
Alongside Marquez (right) will be Fabio Di Giannantonio (left), who has already has a pole position in the premier class and an eighth place as a best result.
#73 – ALEX MARQUEZ
“I’m really happy to announce that I’ll be joining Team Gresini MotoGP, and I’m also very excited to be starting this new adventure: it was crucial for me to change in order to recover the same type of motivation I had when I first joined this class. This was the best option for me, with a team that helped writing the history of this championship. I would like to thank Nadia, Carlo and all the GR staff for believing in me. I still have half a season left to do my best before starting 2023 with top motivation.”
#49 – FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO
“I’m really happy to extend my partnership with this team, which is like a family to me. It’s great because we’ll continue on this learning curve, and we’ll be doing so with a Ducati – and that makes me very happy. Continuity is key in MotoGP in order to be able to work on myself to be the best possible. We have been working on this contract extension for a little while, and now we can finally announce it. Obviously the goals will be higher: we’ll be using this second part of the season to improve our results and then next year I really want to make that step up.”
NADIA PADOVANI GRESINI – TEAM OWNER
“I’m really happy with this new project. First of all we’re confirming our continuation with Fabio Di Giannantonio. He has already shown his talent this year, as he has been improving race after race, and I’m sure that he’ll keep getting more competitive. We were looking to put a more experienced rider alongside him, and I think Alex Marquez is the perfect one for our team. His CV speaks for itself: we think he has great potential and that the Desmosedici machine may be the perfect companion on his new journey. Welcome to the family, Alex!”
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