Marc Marquez will make his debut as a factory Ducati team rider in Tuesday’s official MotoGP test in Barcelona wearing an all-red suit without personal sponsorship branding on a one-off basis.
The Spaniard will start a new chapter in 2025 and will once again have all the muscle that drives a factory team after a season with Gresini, which is one of the most modest outfits on the grid, racing on a satellite GP23 bike.
The post-season test at Barcelona on Tuesday is an occasion that is likely to grab attention, because the expectation is that it will be comparable to the hype generated by Valentino Rossi’s debut with Yamaha at the Sepang test in 2004, and Marquez himself when he got to sample a Desmosedici for the first time in Valencia 12 months ago.
As Autosport can reveal, Marquez will wear a red suit in the corporate colour of Ducati. The bike will also be painted red and will only bear his famous #93 number, plus the branding of Ducati, tyre supplier Michelin and exhaust supplier Akrapovic.
There will be no trace of Red Bull, one of Marquez's most faithful sponsors in his career, as the energy drinks giant will stay on the sidelines given Ducati's link with rival brand Monster.
The contract between Monster and Ducati expires in 2027, one year after the end of Marquez’s own deal with the Italian marque, making it impossible for Marquez to continue with Red Bull at any event in which he represents Ducati.
In fact, on the spaces that are owned by the team – suit, cap and motorcycle – the Spaniard will have to incorporate the famous ‘green claw’ logo of American energy drinks maker Monster.
The only exception will be the helmet, where the place normally occupied by Red Bull will be taken over by the stickers of Estrella Galicia, which will also be featured on his water bottle. Monster approached Marquez and made an identical offer to the deal it has with Francesco Bagnaia, but he turned it down.
Marquez also has a long-term agreement with sunglasses brand Oakley, but he won’t be able to use its glasses during his Ducati stint as it has a clashing deal with Carrera. Like Monster, Carrera also tried to bring the six-time MotoGP world champion to the list of athletes it sponsors, but he declined the offer.
The 31-year-old will initially test the GP24 on Tuesday, the same prototype with which Bagnaia and Jorge Martin fought for this year's title, before switching to a hybrid version of the bike.
Marquez and Bagnaia will sample the GP25 in Malaysia at the beginning of February, and that specification of bike will be much closer to what they will race in 2025's opening grand prix in Thailand in March.
