Marc Márquez is back on everyone’s lips, and not just for his rebirth on the track in the MotoGP World Championship. A recent attack by Valentino Rossi on a friend’s podcast has revived that conflict that broke out on the track and in the press rooms in 2015. The famous kick is still floating around in the head of the Italian legend, who is determined not to turn the page. The Spaniard from Ducati, who watched the entire episode at home with all the reflections of the man who was once also his idol, did not want to get involved and preferred to bury the controversy during the preview of the Emilia-Romagna GP that takes place this weekend.
“I have heard it and seen the video… good. Right now I have much more important things on my mind,” he said, always with that mischievous smile, to the microphones of Dazn. “My job now is on the track, I am an active driver, so I am neither interested nor affected by those wars. I have already been through everything, and I know where my head should be. Nobody has distracted me in the past nor will they do so in the present,” he added, without wanting to go into the motivations of his former rival.
Rossi’s words, who called Márquez the dirtiest rider in history, came in the form of a question to Pecco Bagnaia, his future teammate and member of the nine-time world champion’s academy. “I’m staying out of this situation. I wasn’t competing in MotoGP at the time and it’s a situation that doesn’t concern me,” said the defending champion. The Ducati representative did want to criticise the attitude of the fans at Misano, a circuit that is just a few kilometres from Tavullia, the home town of the number 46.
“It is disrespectful and something I don’t understand, but unfortunately it is something that happens in all sports. We have to try to stop it,” he said in reference to the booing of Márquez after his victory in the San Marino GP, during the podium ceremony. “I want to thank Pecco for his gesture,” the Spaniard added. The 93 will seek his third consecutive victory in this weekend’s revalidation at the same venue.
Since 2019, the year of his sixth and last MotoGP title before his physical and sporting ordeal, he has not managed to string together so many victories. Despite being in enemy territory, Misano has been better for him than anyone else, with five wins since the event returned to the calendar in 2007.
“I have already achieved all of this season’s objectives, but if something more comes along, it will be welcome,” said Márquez about the battle for the world championship in the category. Jorge Martín is leading by seven points over Bagnaia, and the Catalan is in third position, 53 points behind, still far from the lead. The unstable forecast will make things difficult for the contenders from Friday onwards as they enter the final phase of the competition: there are seven Grand Prix left in nine weeks, with 259 points at stake.
In other news, MotoGP announced on Thursday that the Hungarian Grand Prix will be included in the 2025 calendar, which has yet to be fully revealed. After this year’s disruptions, with the repetition at Misano coming after the cancellation of the Indian Grand Prix and its first replacement, the Kazakhstan GP, Spanish promoter Dorna is treading carefully when it comes to announcing next year’s dates.
