Gigi Dall’Igna has played down speculation over Marc Marquez’s fitness, insisting the reigning champion will be “100% fit” for Jerez this weekend.

After securing a long-awaited ninth world title, Marquez missed the final rounds of last year’s debut Ducati Lenovo season due to right shoulder injuries sustained following contact with Marco Bezzecchi in Indonesia.

Despite returning for pre-season testing, Marquez arrives at the opening European round just fifth in the standings and without a grand prix podium.

While questions have been raised about the performance of the latest Ducati Desmosedici against the dominant Aprilia RS-GP, Marquez has also pointed to himself, admitting his healing shoulder means he cannot yet ride as he wants.

“It’s clear [Marquez] had a rather serious injury; he missed five races at the end of the season, so he’s still progressing in his rehabilitation. But honestly, I see him doing well, and I think he’ll be 100% fit by Jerez,” Dall’Igna told Moto.it.

Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT

Aprilia riders Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin currently lead the world championship standings, with the RS-GP winning four of the opening six rounds, including all three grands prix.

KTM’s Pedro Acosta is third, with VR46 Ducati’s Fabio di Giannantonio ahead of Marquez and factory team-mate Pecco Bagnaia just ninth.

Dall’Igna acknowledged that the MotoGP concession system, which gives Ducati’s rivals extra technical perks due to a reduced share of constructors’ points over a rolling one-year window, is ‘penalising’ Ducati.

“The concession system is certainly designed to try to rebalance the system a bit, obviously, thus penalising Ducati, which has certainly made a difference from a technical standpoint in recent years,” he said.

“But I repeat, this is not an excuse, and we are here to try to fight for victory, so we definitely need to roll up our sleeves and do everything in our power to bring our bike back to being the benchmark in the MotoGP system.”

Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT

After a new rear aero and seat wings were introduced at COTA, more developments are expected at Jerez, during the race weekend and official post-race test.

“There will be a test after Jerez, but we’ll probably also try to run some tests during the race [weekend] to find some solutions,” he said.

“We clearly have some ideas, and we need to understand whether these ideas are the right ones or not, so Monday’s test will definitely be important.”

Ducati won both of last year’s Jerez races. 

Marc Marquez was victorious in the Sprint, but made an early mistake in the grand prix, won by his younger brother Alex on the Gresini machine.

Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT

Subscribe to our MotoGP Newsletter