Marc Marquez's future has obviously been one of the most talked about topics in the paddock for several months now. The Spaniard has begun to express more and more clearly his desire to rid himself of Honda's problems and get back to fighting for the podium, as he looks for a real way out for next season. If at the beginning it seemed simply like pub talk, over time this possibility has taken more and more shape. Initially it was thought that Marc's destination was KTM, but Dorna did not allow the Austrian manufacturer to enter two other bikes, nipping this possibility in the bud, at least for 2024.
With Yamaha and Aprilia fully ironclad, the only alternative for Marquez remained Ducati, which until a few days ago had two free bikes. The first was that of Pramac, but then Franco Morbidelli signed the long-awaited contract which will take him on board an official Red bike next season. There therefore one last possibility remains for Marc, and it is called Gresini Racing. The Italian team could have signed Arbolino and Dixon but wanted to wait. It has not yet confirmed Di Giannantonio, who however is not necessarily out of the picture.
The wait is due precisely to the possibility of being able to poach a champion like Marc Marquez, even just for one season. A scenario that Ducati doesn't like too much, given that it would upset all the plans of the Italian company, which has chosen to focus on young riders to help them improve and already has many riders capable of winning races and fighting for the title. But the point is that Gresini Racing, as a satellite team that pays for the bikes, is not required to be beholden to Ducati regarding the riders it hired, which is why the possibility has always appeared anything but unrealistic. The Spaniard would certainly give up his pharaonic contract with Honda, but he could afford to take a decent cut in salary for a year, considering that from 2025 he would be free to sign for another manufacturer, raising the stakes again. There are those who claim that in Marc's contract with Honda there is a clause that allows him to free himself from the agreement without penalties only by moving to a satellite team, and if this possibility were to be true the path would be clear.
Marc waited for the Misano tests, but already in the previous days he had stated that he had more than one alternative plan, confirming more and more that the possibility of leaving Honda is not at all far-fetched. We've talked about this topic a lot, maybe too much. But Marc Marquez is undoubtedly one of the main characters of this sport, a champion who however hasn't won or fought at the top for too long now.
We therefore thought we would ask our readers for their opinion on this possible move by Marc to Gresini and many of them responded. By adding the polls on Facebook and Instagram we accumulated 6,305 votes, of which 4,610 on FB and 1,695 on IG. The result is clear, but less unbalanced than expected. Around 55% of readers would like to see Marc in Gresini, while the other 45% would prefer to continue seeing him on a Honda in 2024. Here are the results:
In the next few days we should have a definitive answer to this question and it is strange to think that this answer could arrive precisely in view of the Japanese Grand Prix in Motegi, the home race for Honda. All that remains to do is to wait.