Marquez Denies Allegations Of Deliberately Saving Strength In Pre-season

Marc Marquez, a Gresini Racing (Instagram/@marcmarquez93).

JAKARTA - Gresini Racing racer, Marc Marquez, denied allegations that he deliberately kept his strength on the pre-season test to trick his rivals in the 2024 MotoGP.

Marquez's suspicion of deliberately storing his original strength has emerged since the test in Sepang. This allegation then strengthened on the first day of Qatar test, Monday, February 19, 2024.

On the test in Qatar, Marquez was only in 16th position. The Spaniard was 0.919 seconds adrift of defending Italian champion Francesco Bagnaia, who finished fastest.

The result made several teams wonder and suspected that the new Gresini Racing racer had deliberately contained its original potential until the 2024 race which began to be held on March 8, 2024.

"No (storeing power). Of course I try hard. Everyone is trying hard in this test, but I need to understand a few things," Marquez was quoted as saying by Crash.

Even though it was slow in the first test, Marquez was able to become the sixth fastest in the Sprint Race simulation. However, Marquez is the Ducati rider no later than the Michele Pirro tester.

Marquez admits that Bagnaia and last season's MotoGP runners-up, Jorge Martin, made a much more impressive appearance. However, he was satisfied with the results in the test.

"Today I feel better. I came out and could play more on motorbikes. I slid in when I entered the corner, this is my style," said the six-time MotoGP world champion.

Marquez decided to leave Honda and move to Gresini Racing at the end of MotoGP 2023. The 31-year-old racer will drive a Ducati GP23 this year.

Meanwhile, Bagnaia, who won the last two seasons, as well as being Marquez's rival, will later ride a newer Ducati motorcycle.