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The Ducatis promise to be stronger than ever in 2024, with eight-time champion Marc Marquez – the new rider in Gresini, along with his brother Alex – who has also joined the Red platoon. A combination made up of the Spanish champion and the Desmosedici, which appears at the starting lines of the championship as a potential big threat to their opponents, but that won’t be the ace up the sleeve of the Borgo Panigale constructor. At least according to KTM Motorsport Director Pit Beirer’s expectations.
“Marc Marquez is a brilliant rider, and now he’s on a very powerful bike. This combination will be very dangerous, but I don’t think he’s Ducati’s new number one, and I don’t think he can reach a decisive turning point,” the former German rider observed, as reported by our colleagues at Motorsport.com. “He’ll have strong competition in his own environment. Pecco is an incredible champion. Jorge has a knife between his teeth,” he continued. “Then there’s also Brad with our bike. I don’t expect a one-man show from Marc, but he’ll be competitive from day one.”
KTM aims high in 20 b24: “We want to fight for the riders and constructors titles”
Building on their progress during the winter, and the talent of its four riders (Brad Binder, Jack Miller, Pedro Acosta, and Augusto Fernandez), the Austrian company aims to further progress compared to 2023 and continuously battle it out with their Ducati rivals.
“We’re very satisfied because we were able to make progress in all the areas where we wanted to improve. The lap times in Sepang and Qatar were better than expected. Both ours and those of the competition,” Beirer said, happy with the pre-season tests and the common front followed by the riders in developing the RC16. “We had many different set-ups, and each rider could have chosen an individual solution, but we met, and all four decided to use the same aerodynamics. We’re happy that all the riders opted for the same package. It’ll help us in development and in analyzing data.”
KTM doesn’t hide that it has great ambitions for its 8th season in the MotoGP, in which it aspires to play a leading role.
“Our hope and our motivation is to be able to bother the Ducati, day and night. We finished fourth in the championship with Brad, and in second place among the constructors. It’s up to us to challenge the former, both in the riders and constructors world championships. We no longer want to limit ourselves to being present, but to fight for victories and podium finishes. This is why we have a clear goal: we want to fight for the title of World Champions in 2024,” the director admitted. “This isn’t being arrogant in any way. It’s a very big project, involving more than one hundred and fifty people who have been working for ten years on the dream of becoming MotoGP world champions along with us. There’s so much heart and soul at stake, and we’re extremely motivated to take the final step.”
