World Champion Pecco Bagnaia, Marc Marquez, Marco Bezzecchi and Valentino Rossi were all on track on Monday in Portimao, as the MotoGP™ stars shake off the cobwebs ahead of the Sepang Test getting underway next week. Riding alongside some leading WorldSBK contenders, the premier class riders jumped aboard standard Superbike machinery for the day.
Lenovo Ducati’s Bagnaia and Enea Bastianini were joined by Prima Pramac Racing’s Franco Morbidelli, Pertamina Enduro VR46’s Bezzecchi and Fabio Di Giannantonio, plus the Gresini Racing duo of Marc and Alex Marquez. The seven were seen riding Ducati Panigale V4S machines, whilst Repsol Honda’s Luca Marini was also in attendance on a Honda Fireblade.
But Marc Marquez – and his new team – tried their best to quash the sky-high expectations at the Gresini Ducati’s presentation last weekend in Riccione, Italy.
The eight-time World Champion was adamant “getting into the top five” is his current objective as he prepares himself for arguably the most crucial season of his premier class career.
To think of fighting for the title this early, he said, was futile. “I haven’t won a race in [more than] two seasons,” he said.
“Of course, expectations are super high,” he acknowledged in his first time wearing Gresini’s sky blue. “But my job is to try to forget about all these expectations.”
