The next piece of the puzzle in the MotoGP rider market for the next 2025 season has been found: Alex Marquez will continue to compete for Gresini Racing, he has extended his expiring MotoGP contract by two seasons until the end of 2026. The traditional Italian racing team led by team boss Nadia Padovani announced this in a press release on Monday, previously ‘Motorsport.com‘ reported about it. The Spaniard will probably get a machine from last year again, so he will ride a Ducati Desmosedici GP24 next year.
“Staying with Gresini was my main goal. Since I joined this team, my goal has been to constantly get closer to the best MotoGP riders. I’m not done with that yet,” said Alex Marquez in the Gresini press release. “The start of the season was not what we hoped for, but I know that the team is strong and what we can achieve. So I have to thank Nadia for believing in me. I’m sure we can repay her with a pineapple pizza celebration.”
Alex Marquez: Revival with Gresini after Honda horror
Alex Marquez made his MotoGP debut in 2020 as the reigning Moto2 World Champion. Repsol Honda had only signed him in a cloak-and-dagger move around the 2019 season finale in Valencia as the successor to the retiring Jorge Lorenzo. Before Marquez could even race for the most successful team in MotoGP history, however, he was replaced by Pol Espargaro for the 2021 season and, after a decent debut season in Repsol colors with two podium finishes, he started two years for LCR Honda.
In Lucio Cecchinello’s team, however, the younger of the two Marquez brothers suffered just as much as his brand colleagues from the Honda RC213V, which was becoming increasingly difficult to drive and increasingly slow, which is why he decided to start afresh in the Ducati camp in 2023. Gresini Racing signed him as Enea Bastianini’s successor. A move that turned out to be a complete success for both sides. Alex Marquez celebrated his first MotoGP victory in the Silverstone sprint last year, and even took second place in the Sepang sprint. There have been no major successes so far in 2024, but this is also due to the problems of adapting to the Ducati GP23, which VR46 riders Fabio Di Giannantonio and especially Marco Bezzecchi are also suffering from.
Nevertheless, Marquez is doing anything but badly after the first third of the season, sitting tenth in the World Championship with 51 points. The contract extension with the 28-year-old, who narrowly missed the podium in Jerez, finishing fourth, is therefore not exactly surprising, especially as Gresini has to reposition himself on the other side of the garage after his brother Marc Marquez left for the Ducati factory team. This means that there is at least some continuity in the racing team.
Completely open: Who will be Gresini’s second rider in MotoGP in 2025?
It is still completely unclear who will ride alongside Alex Marquez in 2025. One of the deciding factors will certainly be whether Pramac Racing switches from Ducati to Yamaha. If this happens, Ducati could potentially push for the Moto2 shooting star Fermin Aldeguer is to be parked at Gresini. But Joan Mir is also considered a candidate should he decide to leave Honda. In addition, rumours have recently surfaced about a MotoGP move by WorldSBK star Toprak Razgatlioglu and Jack Miller is also publicly flirting with a return to Ducati. And then there are available riders such as Miguel Oliveira, Alex Rins, Raul and Augusto Fernandez or the Moto2 talents Sergio Garcia, Joe Roberts, Alonso Lopez and Ai Ogura.
More than enough choice for Gresini Racing. What do you think: Which of these riders should the racing team sign as a teammate for Alex Marquez? Tell us in the comments!