Alex Marquez, the Gresini MotoGP rider, acknowledges that his move to a full factory-spec Ducati in 2026 will present “double the work,” but views the transition as a “really good opportunity.”
The 29-year-old, who currently sits second in the 2025 standings, has secured two Grand Prix wins for Ducati aboard year-old machinery and has consistently been the next fastest Ducati competitor behind his brother, Marc Marquez.
For next season, Ducati has chosen to upgrade the younger Marquez brother to a factory-spec GP26, increasing their total works bike supply to four (including Fabio Di Giannantonio’s contract for works machinery at VR46).
Alex Marquez believes his Gresini team fully deserves this opportunity given their exceptional results since partnering with Ducati in 2022.
“Super happy for me, super happy especially for the team,” he stated ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix.
“I think they deserve it. I think if you look at the history for Ducati with Gresini, they did an amazing job every year.
“Every year they get some wins in the races. So, they deserve it. This year my results also helped to have that bike for next year.”
He credited team owner Nadia Padovan’s persistence: “Nadia helped me a lot and she was also pushing a lot to have that factory bike. So, thanks to Ducati and to Gigi [Dall’Igna] especially because he made this real. We have all the material to make a good job in 2026 but first of all we have to finish this season in a good way.”
Reflecting on the necessary adaptation for 2026, he noted the significant change in workload:
“For sure, it will change a little bit our approach during all the tests. We will have more things to try, more things to work on. So, we will have double the work.”
“This year the tests were super easy. We were just trying to extract the performance, not trying pieces and all that.
“But that work I like, to try things, to help Ducati to improve.”
“It will be a really good opportunity for me and the team, and we will try to extract the potential from that.”
