Marc Marquez - Our Brightest MotoGP Star

The Story So Far

Marc Marquez was born in Cervera, Lleida in Spain in 1993. On board his first Enduro machine at the age of just five, he has been competing since he was six years old.

KTM recruited Marc Marquez to Grand Prix racing at age 14 for the 2008 season of 14-year old. Márquez joined Team Repsol KTM with Alberto Puig as Team Director and Emilio Alzamora as Marc‘s personal consultant. Alzamora, a former world champion had been the young rider’s mentor at his Monllau Road Racing School.

In 2007 Marquez was competing in the 125cc class of the Spanish championships where he excelled in some races and finished eighth overall, exhibiting enough all-round talent to catch the attention of KTM Grand Prix Technical Director Harald Bartol.

Bartol said back then, the project with Marc Márquez was in line with KTM’s philosophy. “We have brought countless riders to the top In Motocross and Enduro racing and we are determined to do the same in Grand Prix racing. Marc’s achievements in the Spanish Championship justifies opening the doors to the World Championship,” he said. “I believe Emilio Alzamora is the ideal person to guide him as he goes into the Grand Prix series. I am sure Marc will be very successful.”

Marc made his championship debut as a 15 year old in April 2008 at the 125cc Portuguese Grand Prix. He is the youngest Spanish rider to take a pole position or a podium in a motorcycle racing world championship.

At 15, Márquez achieved his first podium in June 2008 at the British Grand Prix. For 2009, he was a factory KTM rider, and in the French Grand Prix achieved his first pole at only 16 years old. He also took pole for the 2010 Spanish Grand Prix but on lap one the exhaust pipe fell off, causing Márc to crash heavily.

His first win was on 6 June 2010 at Mugello. Further victories at Silverstone, Assen and Catalunya in the next three races saw Márquez become the youngest rider to win four successive races. A fifth win at the Sachsenring saw Márc became the first rider since Valentino Rossi in 1997 to win five successive races in 125cc racing.

He dropped to third in the standings after being taken out in the first corner at Motorland Aragon. Four wins from Motegi onwards moved Márquez into a 17-point lead with one round to go. At Estoril, the race was red-flagged due to rain with Márc running second. When returning to the grid for the second race, Márquez fell on the sighting lap and returned to the pits. Márc re-started at the back of the field. Despite this, Márquez recovered to win and extend his lead before the Valencia finale. His tenth victory of the season moved him to within one of tying the record set by Rossi in 1997. He would fall short of tying it as he took a measured fourth place at the final race in Valencia to become the second-youngest World Champion after Loris Capirossi.

Márquez moved into the Moto2 class for 2011 as the sole rider of the new team Monlau Competición, run by his manager Emilio Alzamora.

Márquez started the season with a pair of accidents in Qatar and at Jerez. He finished 21st in Portugal, before taking his first victory in the class at the French Grand Prix, recovering from a poor start that left him in ninth position.

At his home race in Catalonia, Márquez finished second behind championship leader Stefan Bradl, before another fall at Silverstone, having started from his first Moto2 pole position. With Bradl taking his fourth victory in the first six races, Márquez trailed him by 82 points at the end of the weekend. Márquez made a mid-season surge winning six of the next seven races to move within six points of Bradl in the championship.

In Japan, Márquez took his seventh pole of the season but was beaten in the race by Andrea Iannone, but Márquez's second place finish combined with a fourth place for Bradl, allowed Márquez to take the championship lead by a point.

At the Australian Grand Prix, Márquez was involved in an incident with Ratthapark Wilairot during practice; Márquez crashed into the back of Wilairot after the session had been concluded, and for riding in an "irresponsible manner", was given a one-minute penalty onto his qualifying time. The penalty ensured Márquez started last on the grid, but he made his way through to finish in third place, albeit losing his championship lead to Bradl, who finished second.

In the Malaysian Grand Prix, Márquez's race weekend was hampered in the opening minutes of free practice, as he crashed on a damp patch. After sitting out two further sessions, Márquez completed two laps in qualifying, but his times were only good enough for 36th on the grid. He did not start the race, as he failed a medical examination prior to the warm-up on race morning. Márquez attended the final race of the season in Valencia, in the hope of being fit to compete, but withdrew due to his continued vision problems, giving Bradl the 2011 title.

At the half way point in the 2012 Moto2 World Championship, Marquez has a 43 points lead over fellow Spaniard Pol Espargaro after the German GP round at Sachenring.

Looking for to the 2013 season, Dorna and IRTA have decided that the rule preventing MotoGP rookies from being signed to a factory team had to be scrapped due to the difficulties presented by the limited number of bikes available to ride.

The catalyst of all this is of course Marc Marquez.

With the Rookie Rule out of the way, Marquez’ path has been cleared to join Dani Pedrosa at the Repsol Honda squad. A HRC source said that no contract had been signed, though they acknowledged that talks were ongoing. They also affirmed that Honda were keen to retain the services of Dani Pedrosa, who they still consider vital to their Championship chances.