Ducati will become increasingly dominant with Marc Marquez, is this a bad sign for MotoGP?

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1 Jan 2024

Aprilia boss Massimo Rivola admits that his team will face tougher challenges in MotoGP 2024. Ducati will be more dominant with the arrival of Marc Marquez.

The eight-time world champion has joined Gresini Racing for next season. Marquez made the big decision to leave Honda, the team that has supported him for 11 years.

Marquez has made a promising debut on the Desmosedici motorbike after finishing in the top four at the official test in Valencia. In fact, Ducati was so dominant last year that the term 'Ducati Championship' emerged, following the Desmosedici riders consistently competing in every race.

Aprilia itself managed to steal two wins when Aleix Espargaro won the main races in England and Catalunya. Meanwhile, Maverick Vinales finished runner-up three times, including in Mandalika, Indonesia.

Rivola said Aprilia had to work extra hard to compete with Ducati. Rivola believes that Ducati will become even more dominant with the presence of Marc Marquez, which is not a good thing for MotoGP itself.

"The worst thing you can do is overreact when things aren't going right. If you look at the first half of the season, we didn't meet our targets in terms of performance, or in terms of results. We kept calm, kept pushing and then celebrating two wins," said Rivola, quoted by Speedweek.

"However, in Thailand where we usually struggle, our performance was not bad at all. The bike got better overall. Austria has also usually been good for us in the past but this year Maverick almost took pole position."

"If we combine everything, we can be fast. It's mostly about the details and we have to work harder on those details. Only the Ducati riders regularly beat us, and they have a big advantage with eight bikes on the track -- eight fantastic motorbikes and next year it will be even worse because the motorbike that won the world title will be ridden by Marc Marquez."

"That doesn't sound good for the whole championship. It's a difficult job, but we have no choice but to build a better bike and stop making mistakes," said Rivola.