Marc Marquez is on his way to secure his seventh world title, and everything is looking pretty good to the Repsol Honda rider that only needs to finish ahead of Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) at this weekend’s Japan GP in Motegi, to mathematically guarantee the 2018 MotoGP championship.
Honda knows how good Marquez is, and they’ve made him one of the best paid riders on the MotoGP paddock when they renewed his contract at the beginning of this season, but some rumors point to other manufacturers trying to allure Marquez to change team.
Rumors point to KTM Racing tried to get Marquez to sign a deal with them before he renewed with Honda, and more recently voices on the paddock have pointed to Ducati future plans that include the signing of Marc Marquez to ride alongside Andrea Dovizioso.
In 2020, Marquez current contract will end, and he will be “up for grabs” by any team. Yamaha Racing have already ruled him out and guarantee that Viñales and Rossi are the future, although Rossi’s age might be an issue here. Ducati could very well try to snatch Marc Marquez from Honda, but Davide Tardozzi, Ducati team manager in MotoGP, has ruled out that possibility
“I’ve been reading that (rumors) everywhere. But we’re not thinking about him. We have put our faith in Dovizioso, and we believe he will be able to get the results we want. At this moment the future for Ducati has a name and surname: Andrea Dovizioso. Everything else doesn’t make any sense”.
But Ducati’s own rider, Andrea Doviziso, doesn’t seem to think that way. When confronted with the possibility that Marc Marquez would be joining the Italian team in 2020, Dovi said that Ducati needs all the best riders
“It’s no news that, in the future, everyone will try to get Marquez. It would be stupid from Ducati not to try and get him. It would be nice (to sign Marquez) because it’s always good to have a champion on the team, I’ve had Jorge Lorenzo and his data available. I tried new things”, referring to the input Lorenzo gave Ducati engineers to improve the Desmosedici GP bike.
Will we see Marc Marquez change from Honda to Ducati or even KTM in 2020?