After pulling off an underdog surprise in 2025, Alex Marquez believes he is better equipped for the pressure of a MotoGP championship battle as the new season begins in Buriram this weekend.
The Gresini Ducati rider, never previously higher than eighth in the premier-class standings, stunned the paddock with seven consecutive runner-up finishes at the start of last year – then a maiden MotoGP victory in front of his home fans at Jerez.
Despite racing a year-old GP24, Marquez remained the closest challenger to older brother and eventual champion Marc Marquez.
But the Spaniard admits the sudden transition from outsider to title contender caught him off guard at times.
“Yes, I feel more prepared because last year the step from ’24 to ’25 was quite huge and I didn’t have the experience to approach all the situations in a good way,” Alex Marquez said at Buriram on Thursday.
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“To repeat a year like last year already will be really good. ’25 was an amazing year for us, but you always want a little bit more.
“It will depend on my hands, on my team’s hands, so we need to not change the mentality, go race by race and then try to extract the potential in every track.”
“It was a little bit strange”
Reflecting on where he had stumbled, the three-time 2025 MotoGP winner added:
“I didn’t have the experience in the past of fighting for a MotoGP world title or fighting against Marc or some other rivals.
“I was watching them from quite far in the last seasons, until 2025, so it was a little bit strange. I think in one moment of the season, I was thinking too much about the championship and not taking all the profit from the bike.
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“That moment is when I started to make those mistakes – in Brno, Balaton Park and all that.
“I will try to solve those mistakes this year, but hopefully we will be in the same situation, and then I will have the opportunity to take profit from that experience.”
Now on a factory-spec GP26, pre-season testing has underlined Marquez’s ongoing potential, topping the Sepang timesheets before ending the Buriram test a close fifth fastest.
However, he cautioned against reading too much into winter pace.
“A race weekend will show us where we are exactly, I think for everybody,” he said. “A test is one thing, and later in a race weekend, you see the reality, when everybody is putting 100% on track.
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“After 3-4 races, we will see where we are and for what we can fight this year.”
Gresini team-mate Fermin Aldeguer will miss the season opener as he continues to recover from a leg fracture sustained in training.
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