Factory Ducati rider Marc Marquez reveals he considered retiring from MotoGP at the end of the 2023 season.
The championship leader is on the cusp of securing a ninth world title and a record-breaking seventh MotoGP crown at this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix.
Not only would it be his first premier class title since 2019, but also his first with Ducati, securing it in his very first season with the factory squad.
Marquez famously ended his Honda contract early after the 2023 season and joined Gresini on a year-old bike to rediscover his love for racing, following years of injury struggles and uncompetitive results.
The Spaniard admitted he nearly called it quits at the age of 30, but his move to Ducati answered the burning question of whether he could still compete at the highest level.
“It was close,” Marquez said to MotoGP.com.
“There was the question, why don’t we stop?
“But I had something inside that said, I want to answer the question, if I’m competitive. And to answer that question meant trying to find the best bike on the grid, which was a Ducati, and that was my target.
“I just forgot the relationships, the money, the history. I said, okay, I want to just answer that question.
“I had a good comments from my brother [about the Ducati]. That helps. And Alex helped me a lot to make the decision.
“I said, only one year [with Gresini], let’s see if I’m competitive. If that year with Gresini, I was not competitive, I’m sure that my career ends.
“To leave Honda for a very good team that was Gresini, but ride for free, just to prove to myself that I was able to be competitive was a very big challenge where I risked a lot of things.”
Marquez is on the verge of becoming MotoGP champion once again after winning 11 Grand Prix races and 14 Sprint races in what could be considered one of his most dominant seasons ever.
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