Gresini Crew Chief Warns Of Ducati 2025 MotoGP Performance: 'On Such A Roll'
Gresini crew chief Frankie Carchedi has offered a hint of what might unfold in MotoGP's 2025 season when Marc Marquez gets his hands on factory Ducati's latest machinery, the Desmosedici GP25. Carchedi, who worked with the Spaniard last year, suggested that Marquez's ability to outperform GP24 riders while on the GP23 bike hinted at the potential for a remarkable outcome by the end of 2025.
Marquez secured the official Ducati seat over world champion Jorge Martin by being the only GP23 rider to consistently challenge the GP24s last season, achieving three Grand Prix wins, a sprint victory, two pole positions, and third in the riders' championship. Despite a potentially strong challenge from his 2025 teammate Francesco Bagnaia, Marquez is predicted to be the favorite rider this season. When Carchedi was asked on the Crash MotoGP podcast what he expects from Marquez at the Factory Ducati team, he said:
“I don't want to say too much, but I know exactly how I think it will go: Second year on [the Ducati], effectively a two-year upgrade in machinery… The guy got 20 podiums [in 2024] year, so I'll leave that one at that!”
Carchedi was questioned about the performance difference among Ducati's machinery last year, including the differences between the GP23 bikes at Gresini and VR46, as well as the GP24s used by the Lenovo and Pramac teams. He said:
“I was thinking ‘what are you guys going to ask?’ And I thought this one's definitely coming up!
“I've had lots of practice on how to answer this and I'll repeat basically what I’ve previously said: The comparison for us was the other GP23s and trying to be the best of those.
“That's what Marc did at Honda, against the other Hondas. You couldn't compare him with the Yamahas, Ducatis or other manufacturers [then]. And it was the same for this year.
“To finish ahead of two [GP24s, Enea Bastianini and Franco Morbidelli] at the end of the year was quite incredible.
“The Ducati engineers are on such a roll. You think that they can't improve and yet they find a way to improve the bike even further every year.
“All bikes have their advantages and negatives. There were just a couple of areas, let's say, that were tricky for us to compete.
“For sure over one lap - but maybe that's more about experience [with the Ducati]. I don't know. We're talking about a rider [Marquez] on the bike for the first time against riders who have had four or five years on the bike.
“And even then, I think we qualified quite comfortably. We had two pole positions in the year and we actually finished third in the [BMW Award] ‘qualifying championship’, which surprised me because it didn’t feel like that!
“Motegi, on his own… was also almost a pole [until the lap was cancelled]!
“There are differences [between the 23 and 24]. The Ducati engineers are that good that they always make a step. Every year is different. Sometimes it's one-two tenths, sometimes it's more. It’s luck of the draw what year the difference [between factory and satellite] is.
“To summarise, maybe Alex is the best person to ask. Because I think he quite liked the bike [GP24] in Barcelona!”