Category: Superbikes

1. A NIGHTMARE SATURDAY IN AUSTRIA

   Posted on 5:00pm Saturday 17th Aug 2024

   Team Gresini Racing MotoGP’s Marc and Alex Marquez will need to turn the page on what was an unfortunate performance for both riders in this year’s #AustrianGP sprint race. Alex was the first one to crash as he lost control of his Ducati machine at the first chicane, with a nearly identical tumble by his older brother a few laps later while he was running in second place. 
    
   The rider #93 made it back to the pits shortly after, while Alex still managed to make it to the finish line in twentieth place. Both riders are eager to bounce back as a new opportunity awaits them in the full-distance, Sunday encounter in Spielberg. Marc will line up on the front row, while Alex will start the race from row four. 

   20^th - ALEX MARQUEZ #73
   “Not much to say to be honest. After crashing with a couple of corners in, it was all about making it to the finish line. The only good thing is that there’s a new opportunity tomorrow and that I’m not hurt. Unfortunately qualifying didn’t go as planned but we still have a chance for a solid performance.”
    
   DNF - MARC MARQUEZ #93
   “I don’t want to dwell into what happened because we’re in the middle of what has been a solid weekend, up to the turn three crash at least. It’s a shame because I was feeling good on the bike and I wasn’t at the limit. All in all, we’re still confident in our chances for tomorrow’s race, where we’ll try to avoid mistake while being as quick as we can.”

    

2. SOLID RACE AT SILVERSTONE AS SEASON REACHES HALFWAY POINT

   Posted on 6:00pm Sunday 4th Aug 2024

   Team Gresini MotoGP had a solid Sunday race at Silverstone, with both riders in the top positions. Fourth place at the chequered flag for Marc Marquez, few tenths away from the podium, while his brother Alex was seventh.
    
   The rider #93 scored important points while finding good confidence: he did lose one place in the championship standings (fourth behind Enea Bastianini, but still 62 points away from the lead). Alex rounds out the top ten of the classification, with Team Gresini MotoGP third in the team standings behind the factory Ducati squad and the Pramac Team. 
    
   The first half of the season draws to a close with ten podiums for the Faenza-based squad, while waiting for the Austrian Gran Prix scheduled to get underway in less than two weeks. 

   4^th - MARC MARQUEZ #93 (4^th in the championship standings with 179 points)
   “We would have saved the weekend with two fourth place finishes, so it’s a pity for yesterday’s mistake. Unfortunately we were a bit too much on the back foot this weekend as our base set-up didn’t work as well as we’d hoped. The team did a huge job and we were ready for the race. I would have signed yesterday for a fourth in the race and we achieved the goal today.”
    
   7^th - ALEX MARQUEZ #73 (10^th in the championship standings with 92 points)
   “I’m happy with the race and generally speaking, of the whole weekend. We should have opted for the hard front tyre, but we still put up a fight with the medium one and we had fun. The battle with Diggia was OK, we both wanted to be in front and I didn’t want to stay in the slipstream to avoid decreasing the front-tyre pressure. It’s good anyway, we scored some important points and we look forward to Austria.”

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

3. MARC BARELY MAKES IT TO Q2, ALEX FORCED TO TACKLE Q1

   Posted on 7:00pm Friday 2nd Aug 2024

   Today was not the best Friday of the season for Team Gresini MotoGP in what was a hot and humid day at Silverstone, the venue hosting the tenth event of the 2024 MotoGP season. In the ‘darker side’ of the day, Marc Marquez had a crash at turn 15 in the morning session, while Alex was only fourteenth as Practice drew to a close.
    
   Marc Marquez still managed to make it into Q2 as he was tenth quickest in the second session of the day, with a 1’58.585secs lap-time. Plenty of more work will be needed tomorrow, starting from the morning’s free practice.

   10^th - MARC MARQUEZ #93 (1’58.585)
   “This has arguably been our worst Friday of the season. The only thing we can save from it is the position. We need a lot of work in order to be between fifth and tenth, and we’re not looking for anything higher than that. We’re almost half a second away pace-wise from the top and we need to find a way to get closer. Too bad for the crash, but I wasn’t feeling at my best on the bike.”
    
   14^th - ALEX MARQUEZ #73 (1’58.954)
   “We were feeling good this morning. We tried some set-up modifications that had worked well in Germany, but there are some unpredictable movements on the bike which require some work. Too bad for the last lap in the afternoon as I was only two tenths away from P1 before making a mistake. There’s work to be done tomorrow, but we are aiming at being among the top twelve and therefore in Q2.”

    

4. SIPEX NEW TECHNICAL SPONSOR FOR GRESINI MOTOGP IN THE TWO-YEAR PERIOD 2024-2025

   Posted on 12:00pm Tuesday 9th Jul 2024

   A new partnership has landed with one third of the season in for Gresini Racing, who shake hands with Sipex Cavagna Spa as the latter becomes a new technical sponsor for the MotoGP effort. 
    
   SIPEX Cavagna S.p.A. is a leading company in processing steel and a reference point worldwide in the world of bathroom sanitary manufacturers and houseware companies, will be alongside the Faenza-based team for the 2024 and 2025 sporting seasons.
    
   Innovation and Made in Italy are two key points of Sipex, which also mirror the values of Team Gresini MotoGP. 

   LIVIO CAVAGNA – GENERAL MANAGER SIPEX CAVAGNA 
   “Sipex Cavagna Spa is proud to be alongside an Italian team with such broad an international reach as Gresini Racing. The appeal of this partnership is very high and we’re confident that these two seasons are going to be very successful ones. Shared values and high ambitions tie our institutions together, so we cannot wait to be at all the venues around the world with Team Gresini Racing MotoGP.”
    
   CARLO MERLINI – GRESINI RACING MARKETING AND COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR
   “The arrival of a new partnership is always an important moment and it’s a pleasure to welcome Sipex Cavagna in the ever-growing Gresini Family. A two-year agreement is proof of great trust towards Gresini Racing and to everything the team can do in order to promote a brand like Sipex Cavagna on the international stage. We’re confident that we’ll achieve great results together already in this 2024 season.”

    

5. GRESINI & MARQUEZ IN THE HISTORY BOOKS: DOUBLE PODIUM IN GERMANY

   Posted on 4:00pm Sunday 7th Jul 2024

   Marc Marquez and Alex Marquez both stepped on the Sachsenring podium today while placing Gresini Racing in the history books. For the first time in 27 years, two brothers share the premier class rostrum (last time was in 1997 at Imola with the Aoki brothers).
    
   Today’s race went very different for the two brothers, with Alex who had a good start and a consistent pace near the front, while Marc was involved in one of his ‘famous’ comebacks, which culminated on the overtaking manoeuvre for second place on the #73.
    
   It was the icing without the cake, or at least we could describe it this way, in a weekend in which everything had gone wrong prior to this race, especially with regards to the heavy crashes suffered by both riders in the previous days. A mixture of karma and heart give the two brothers, as well as the whole Team Gresini MotoGP, some great feeling entering the summer break. 

    

   2^nd - MARC MARQUEZ #93 (third in the championship standings – 166 points)
   “Today’s result feels as good as a race win. To be on the podium with Alex is something incredible that may have never happened, but here we are. It’s been a very challenging weekend which we saved with a great comeback – and the feeling is almost impossible to explain. The holidays will be good ones thanks to this ‘double’. I was feeling better today, and we gave it a try, but in order to battle for the win we needed a different weekend. We’re still happy as it is.”
    
   3^rd - ALEX MARQUEZ #73 (tenth in the championship standings – 79 points)
   “Honestly, I didn’t think I had the pace to be so close to the front; our goal was the top seven, but then I felt fully comfortable in the race and I pushed to the limit. The battle with Morbidelli was a great one and then, in the final stages, I didn’t have enough left to fend off Marc’s return. Jorge’s crash allowed me to get on the podium and the joy is immense.”