Latest news with #GresiniRacing
BBC News
3 days ago
- Health
- BBC News
Marquez's comeback from 'nightmare' to contender
Marc Marquez is a 2025 MotoGP title words would have been unthinkable to the eight-time world champion two seasons ago when he was living a "nightmare" after suffering broken bones, and severe concussion, and needing a number of six-time MotoGP champion had not won a race for nearly 1,000 days - something that would have seemed impossible as he won four consecutive championships from 2016 to 2019."Two years ago I was maybe in the deepest moment of my career because in 2020 it started - the nightmare," the 32-year-old told BBC Sport."I didn't know what [the future] would be, but I had some difficult decisions [to make] - risky decisions."In 2023 the Spaniard told BBC Sport he was not "ready to win again". At the end of that season he left Honda - a team he was at for 11 years - and joined Gresini Racing, the satellite Ducati team."Honda were my friends and with a very good salary - I said no to all those things, just prove to myself if I was able to be fast," he leading the championship standings and racing for the factory Ducati team, he has his proof. How has he got to the point where a ninth world title - to equal fellow great Valentino Rossi - is within reach? Crashes to comeback Some fans are hailing Marquez's return to title-contending form as a comeback for the ages. It is not hard to see winning his most recent MotoGP title in 2019, Marquez has suffered a string of injuries. He broke his arm at the start of the 2020 season, which over the course of two years required four 2021 a motocross crash resulted in severe following year, double vision meant he had to miss many races, and in 2023 he broke his ankle, ribs and him, his comeback is complete - regardless of whether he wins the title."The most difficult challenge of my career... I have already achieved that - coming back from a lot of injuries. I broke many, many things just trying to improve my skills," he a solid 2024, when he claimed three feature race wins and two pole positions, he joined the factory Ducati team on a two-year contract. "The first goal was to rebuild my confidence," he said. "And rebuild the confidence means step by step to try to put in targets that you can achieve."You cannot arrive at a victory straight away. First of all you need to understand the bike, then try to finish in the top five, then a podium and then step by step fight for a victory." The need to 'adapt' and 'calculate risk' Marquez has had to change his approach to stay competitive. Once a trend setter, he is now the one having to adapt. "When I arrived in MotoGP I was fighting against big names - Jorge Lorenzo, Dani Pedrosa, Valentino Rossi. The main difference when I arrived in MotoGP to now is that now I am fighting against the younger talents that arrive from Moto2 and they are super competitive," he said."I introduced the elbow and a new riding style and now when the younger riders arrive, they introduce another thing so I need to adapt."He has also become more aware of safety."I think more about the safety and I try to calculate more the risks - at one of the strongest and weakest points of my career it was difficult to see the risk," said Marquez, who remains the youngest MotoGP champion of all time."Ten years ago, I was like 'my body is just for riding a bike, I don't care - I am fit and I will recover', but now I understand that recovering from some injuries are super difficult." 'My mum is supporting my brother more' The last time Marquez was fighting for the title - in 2019 - his rivals were legends in the sport in Rossi and Lorenzo, who have a combined 14 world year the challenger is much closer to home, with his younger brother Alex sitting second behind him in the Marquez leads the MotoGP standings on 196 points and has a 24-point advantage over his brother with 15 races their mother has split loyalties."We are living a dream," said Marquez, whose 29-year-old brother competes for Gresini Ducati. "We are first and second in the championship together."My mum is supporting more Alex, but always joking because she says to us, 'you have enough, let him win'. "Now we are super tight because we know I can help him and he can help me. And we want the best for each other." Magic number nine Who is better - Rossi or Marc Marquez? It is the debate that continues to rage on between motorsport terms of titles in the premier class, Rossi, who retired in 2021 has seven, with nine world titles in total. Marquez has six in MotoGP - and a title in both the 125cc and Moto2 Championship, bringing his total to has 89 MotoGP race wins with Marquez on 62 before the start of the 2025 that ninth world title remains a goal for Marquez."Of course nine is a number that I would like to achieve because it is the next number in my career and we will try," he said. "And it is true it would equal Valentino Rossi in championships."
SowetanLIVE
6 days ago
- Sport
- SowetanLIVE
Alex Marquez wins British Grand Prix sprint to end brother Marc's winning streak
Gresini Racing's Alex Marquez ended his brother Marc's record streak of sprint victories when he capitalised on a mistake to win the British Grand Prix sprint on Saturday and close in on his sibling in the world championship. Ducati's Marc had won six straight sprints in the first six rounds of the season while Alex had finished second in all sprints, but this time it was a role reversal as the younger brother gave Gresini the sprint win. Marc lost the lead when he went wide early on, with the Spaniard shaking his head as he rejoined, allowing Alex to move into the lead and take the chequered flag while Fabio Di Giannantonio was third for VR46 Racing. The sprint victory moved Alex to within 19 points of Marc in the riders' championship ahead of Sunday's race. "Super happy ... We did everything perfectly," Alex said after he claimed his first gold medal of the season. "When he [Marc] went a little bit wide, I said, 'OK, now I need to make my pace, I need to go until the end'. It was a really good feeling with the bike. So everything was nice, everything was perfect."
The Hindu
24-05-2025
- Sport
- The Hindu
British MotoGP 2025: Alex Marquez wins sprint, ends brother Marc's streak
Gresini Racing's Alex Marquez ended his brother Marc's record streak of sprint victories when he capitalised on a mistake to win the British Grand Prix sprint on Saturday and close in on his sibling in the world championship. Ducati's Marc had won six straight sprints in the first six rounds of the season while Alex had finished second in all sprints, but this time it was a role reversal as the younger brother gave Gresini the sprint win. Marc lost the lead when he went wide early on, with the Spaniard shaking his head as he rejoined, allowing Alex to move into the lead and take the chequered flag while Fabio Di Giannantonio was third for VR46 Racing. The sprint victory moved Alex to within 19 points of Marc in the riders' championship ahead of Sunday's race. 'Super happy... We did everything perfectly,' Alex said after he claimed his first gold medal of the season. 'When he (Marc) went a little bit wide, I said, 'Okay, now I need to make my pace, I need to go until the end'. It was a really good feeling with the bike. So everything was nice, everything was perfect.' READ | Quartararo dominates qualifying at Silverstone for hat-trick of poles Fabio Quartararo had broken a lap record for the third straight MotoGP weekend when he claimed a hat-trick of poles and when the lights went out, the Frenchman had the perfect start off the line. But Marc made a bold move on the outside to overtake and gain two places to move up to second. By the end of the first lap, a clinical Marc found his way through to move into the lead. But Alex seized his chance when his elder brother went wide on a turn as he took the lead and did not look back. While Quartararo has dominated qualifying sessions this season, his Yamaha does not have the race pace as Ducati's Francesco Bagnaia also overtook him to move up to third while the Frenchman managed to keep Di Giannantonio at bay. Quartararo kept closing the door by braking late on turns but Di Giannantonio finally managed to win that battle to move up to fourth and set his sights on a fight with Bagnaia for the final podium spot. The two Italians traded positions three times on three corners before Di Giannantonio eventually moved up to third while Bagnaia had one eye on his compatriot and another on Aprilia's Marco Bezzecchi behind him. Up front, Marc decided to back off from his brother with two laps to go as Alex extended his lead to more than a second before taking Gresini's first sprint victory of the season. Bagnaia lost places at the end of the sprint and finished sixth -- behind Bezzecchi and French Grand prix winner Johann Zarco, a huge blow as it leaves him 56 points behind his team mate Marc in the standings.
TimesLIVE
24-05-2025
- Sport
- TimesLIVE
Alex Marquez wins British Grand Prix sprint to end brother Marc's winning streak
Gresini Racing's Alex Marquez ended his brother Marc's record streak of sprint victories when he capitalised on a mistake to win the British Grand Prix sprint on Saturday and close in on his sibling in the world championship. Ducati's Marc had won six straight sprints in the first six rounds of the season while Alex had finished second in all sprints, but this time it was a role reversal as the younger brother gave Gresini the sprint win. Marc lost the lead when he went wide early on, with the Spaniard shaking his head as he rejoined, allowing Alex to move into the lead and take the chequered flag while Fabio Di Giannantonio was third for VR46 Racing. The sprint victory moved Alex to within 19 points of Marc in the riders' championship ahead of Sunday's race. "Super happy ... We did everything perfectly," Alex said after he claimed his first gold medal of the season. "When he [Marc] went a little bit wide, I said, 'OK, now I need to make my pace, I need to go until the end'. It was a really good feeling with the bike. So everything was nice, everything was perfect."
CNA
24-05-2025
- Sport
- CNA
Alex Marquez wins British GP sprint to end brother Marc's winning streak
SILVERSTONE, England :Gresini Racing's Alex Marquez ended his brother Marc's record streak of sprint victories when he capitalised on a mistake to win the British Grand Prix sprint on Saturday and close in on his sibling in the world championship. Ducati's Marc had won six straight sprints in the first six rounds of the season while Alex had finished second in all sprints, but this time it was a role reversal as the younger brother gave Gresini the sprint win. Marc lost the lead when he went wide early on, with the Spaniard shaking his head as he rejoined, allowing Alex to move into the lead and take the chequered flag while Fabio Di Giannantonio was third for VR46 Racing. The sprint victory moved Alex to within 19 points of Marc in the riders' championship ahead of Sunday's race. "Super happy... We did everything perfectly," Alex said after he claimed his first gold medal of the season. "When he (Marc) went a little bit wide, I said, 'Okay, now I need to make my pace, I need to go until the end'. It was a really good feeling with the bike. So everything was nice, everything was perfect." Fabio Quartararo had broken a lap record for the third straight MotoGP weekend when he claimed a hat-trick of poles and when the lights went out, the Frenchman had the perfect start off the line. But Marc made a bold move on the outside to overtake and gain two places to move up to second. By the end of the first lap, a clinical Marc found his way through to move into the lead. But Alex seized his chance when his elder brother went wide on a turn as he took the lead and did not look back. While Quartararo has dominated qualifying sessions this season, his Yamaha does not have the race pace as Ducati's Francesco Bagnaia also overtook him to move up to third while the Frenchman managed to keep Di Giannantonio at bay. Quartararo kept closing the door by braking late on turns but Di Giannantonio finally managed to win that battle to move up to fourth and set his sights on a fight with Bagnaia for the final podium spot. The two Italians traded positions three times on three corners before Di Giannantonio eventually moved up to third while Bagnaia had one eye on his compatriot and another on Aprilia's Marco Bezzecchi behind him. Up front, Marc decided to back off from his brother with two laps to go as Alex extended his lead to more than a second before taking Gresini's first sprint victory of the season. Bagnaia lost places at the end of the sprint and finished sixth - behind Bezzecchi and French Grand prix winner Johann Zarco, a huge blow as it leaves him 56 points behind his team mate Marc in the standings.
