The history of the Gresini Racing team has something fairytale-like. It was born from the audacity of its founder Fausto Gresini, who unfortunately passed away three years ago due to Covid-19. The team seemed almost destined to disintegrate, but instead the widow Nadia Padovani took over the reins of the MotoGP project, assisted by her sons Luca and Lorenzo and by the commercial director Carlo Merlini.
The rise of the Gresini team
The choice to join Ducati immediately proved to be a good one, with Enea Bastianini they achieved victory four times in the 2022 season. In the summer of last year Nadia pulled off another sensational coup, managing to sign the multiple champion Marc Marquez with an annual contract. She will join her brother Alex, a two-time winner in the Sprints during 2023, another year to remember thanks also to Fabio Di Giannantonio’s victory in Qatar. “Courage came immediately when my husband died. The decision to take over Gresini Racing and carry forward the projects that my husband had in mind was very courageous“.
The signing of Marc Marquez and goals for 2024
The hiring of Marc Marquez forces us to dream big, other victories could be added to the Emilian team’s trophy case. For some, the MotoGP title would not be a forbidden dream, but it would be better to keep one’s feet firmly on the ground for the debut in Doha. “We arrive in Qatar motivated to at least do well. I’m not talking about winning because Ducati has really strong riders at the moment. But we intend to do well, maybe in the top 10“. As the champion from Cervera manages to become familiar with the Desmosedici GP23 and with the team members, expectations will rise mathematically… “Our goal is definitely to be in the top-5 and maybe achieve something more. We’ll see it later, but at the moment it’s still too early to talk about it“.
For Alex Marquez this is his second year with Gresini Racing and Ducati, for him the minimum objective seems almost achieved. “Clearly he has to win a race. We are very happy with the results you achieved, you celebrated the podium and won two Sprints. Our goal is clearly to bring him to the top podium in the long race“, concluded Nadia Padovani.
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Gresini Racing’s photo