Ducati: Marc Marquez has “determination of a rookie and experience of a veteran”

Ducati’s general manager Gigi Dall’Igna has praised Marc Marquez’s humility after his successful title charge in MotoGP in 2025, describing him as a rider who always wants to keep learning.

Marquez became a seven-time MotoGP champion this year as he completed an epic comeback from the career-altering arm injury that he sustained at Jerez in 2020.

But his success in 2025 was just as significant for Ducati, as it extended its dominant run in the premier class with a clean sweep of riders’, teams’ and manufacturers’ titles.

Writing a blog post on Ducati’s official website, Dall’Igna highlighted Marquez’s character after working directly with him for the first time in 2025, and said the 32-year-old approached the campaign with the determination of a rookie.

“545 points, 11 GPs, 8 Pole and 14 Sprint Races with 10 one-two wins, 7 of them in a row,” he wrote, highlighting Marquez’s incredible run this year.

“He is the first Ducati rider to put together 15 consecutive Sprint and GP wins, the first to stand on the podium for 11 races in a row, and the first to conclude the season with more than 10 wins in both Sprint and GP races.

Marc Marquez, Ducati Team

Photo by: Ducati Corse

“But what is equally important, indeed more so, is that his return, his getting back to the grid, initially in a satellite team [Gresini], his persistence and enthusiasm are the quantum of an ambition that is not economic, but that of a champion who has firmly wanted to rediscover the sensations lost in his veritable odyssey of recent years: the spark in his eyes is the sign of an adventure which is human well before that of sport, lived with the humility of a rider who feels he has always something to learn.

“The determined will of a rookie and the experience of a veteran: he is an example for everyone and an honour for the Factory Team to have him on board.”

Marquez’s arrival in the factory Ducati garage coincided with a drop in the form of two-time champion Francesco Bagnaia, who had previously been the manufacturer’s most reliable rider.

While Bagnaia showed some flashes of pace and annihilated the competition at the Japanese Grand Prix, he never got to grips with the GP25 and ended the year with five non-scores in Sunday races.

Dall’Igna felt Bagnaia endured significant misfortune during the season, but hopes the 28-year-old can bounce back strongly in 2026 and help Ducati remain ahead of the competition.

“The same official team suffered for Pecco to whom luck spared nothing, it must be said,” Dall’Igna wrote.

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team

Photo by: Dorna

“Especially in the final part of the championship he failed to collect as much as he could have had, even in non-optimal situations. Surely things had to unfold differently, but if one adds ill luck to the mix, everything becomes a hell of a lot more difficult, for team and rider alike.

“To draw valuable lessons, I am convinced that such situations must be absorbed as if they were antibodies, in order to draw from them even more determination to move on and return to one’s former self.

“In other words, a lesson to be learned: after all, in 2026 we will inevitably encounter major unknowns to be dealt with, so we might as well treasure what has happened in our recent past.”